A reader noted a brief bit in an Associated Press story about the Alabama man who killed 10 people and himself in a violent rampage last week. The article has a lot of information, including this:

"Father, there are times in life when we don't have answers to the question 'Why?'" Rev. Steve Sellers told the congregation. "I don't know what set a young man off like that, but I, too, want to pray for his family."

Now, those two sentences may or may have not been said together but the first sentence, at least, is a prayer.

The "Father" is a giveaway.

Prayers are not things you tell congregations. They're devout petitions to God.

Picky? Yes. But words matter in journalism.

And all the people said, "Amen."