why corporate prayer?

A couple of weeks ago, I asked  the question of those of you who agree with Huckabee's assessment that, referring to God, "we've escorted Him right out of our culture and we've marched Him off the public square?"

I got a few good comments, though not quite to the core of the issue.  I still hope to explore that more, but in the midst of that, Tommy raised a question in response, both on the comments of my facebook post and then on his facebook status:

I used to be skeptical of the notion that taking prayer out of schools was really that big a deal, but if corporate prayer doesn't make much of a difference, then we may as well stop doing it in church, too, right?

 I have a quick answer, as it applies to this specific issue.  But, in a broader context, my answer is much more vague, meaning that I think I know the answer, but I don't know how to verbalize.  

Coming up with a theology of prayer is difficult because the mechanics of prayer transcend our understanding.  So, in the Bible, it's explained to us in ways to help us understand.  On one hand, Prayer is described as in a way that we make our request and God weighs that request and gives us a decision.  On the other hand, we are told that God already knows our needs and is taking care of them, like a Father.  With our own fathers, sometimes we need to tell him if we are hungry.  But we don't have to ask him for protection.

The problem with the removal of school prayer line of thinking is that it treats prayer like this pixie dust of protection:  we didn't apply the pixie dust, thus the school was vulnerable.  

The second problem is that it ignores the fact that even though there was no prayer over the loudspeaker, people in that school prayed.  Most likely, some of the victims prayed with their families before school, people pray for their meals, and according to the bumpers sticker, "as long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools."

And thus, the core of Tommy's question might be rephrased like this:  if individual prayer is sufficient, then why do we ever do corporate prayer?

Good question.  I want to do some time researching this, and explore it over a series of posts.  But, my quick hypothesis is this:  

Corporate prayer is about a community of believers coming together.  

As I explore this question, what are your thoughts?