Every Easter we take eggs and put them into vinegar and dye. After a few moments the, previously white egg is now vibrant green, orange or blue. However, if you were to take an egg and put it into vinegar for two days, do you know what happens?

The hard protective shell breaks down and you are left with an egg that is soft, squishy, and a bit bouncy. And if you did not hard boil the egg, then shell less egg will still be liquid on the inside.

As we move through our world and pray, chances are we will encounter a few of our neighbors. As we encounter our neighbors and get to know them, both of our hard protective shells will soften, we become more flexible and less rigid. We still have ourselves in tact but we are a bit more transparent with each other.

We are still eggs, if you will, but we are changed in a dramatic way. Whereas before we could not get too close to each other for fear of our hard shells breaking, now we can become closer to one another without fear. Whereas before our hard shells would not allow us to give in to ourselves even just a little bit for fear of breaking, now we are able flexible enough so that we each give without breaking.

Prayer is like that vinegar on that egg. If we pray even for a short time, just like eggs at Easter, we can be changed. If we pray for an extended period of time, just as the Scripture says, our prayers are powerful and effective.

Prayer changes us and it changes our community.