Before the church prays Sunday's Collect she should recall the adage: be careful what you ask for. In it we pray, "O God, the giver of all that is good, by your holy inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by your merciful guiding accomplish them ..."

It's a big ask because "the father of lies" (John 8:44) has robbed us of our ability to think. This is evidenced by the fact that people are incapable of conducting honest debate. When the facts are against them, as they usually are, they instinctually resort to: straw men, red herrings, argumentum ad hominem, argementum ad baculum and other logical fallacies and when all else fails: hysteria. They become like St. Stephen's audience before they stoned him to death, "Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him." (Acts 7:54)

And so pray like you've never prayed before that God would grant our world this huge request. That we would all learn to "think those things that are right" so that by God's merciful guidance we might "accomplish them."