Nat'l Day of Prayer Under Way Across Nation
by Allie Martin, Bill Fancher, and Jody Brown
May 6, 2004
(AgapePress) - Christians across the United States are expected to turn out Thursday to observe the National Day of Prayer. More than 20,000 observances nationwide are scheduled for the annual event.
The theme for this year's observance is "Let Freedom Ring." In his presidential proclamation [PDF] last week supporting the National Day of Prayer, President George W. Bush touched on that theme.
"Prayer is an opportunity to praise God for His mighty works, His gift of freedom, His mercy, and His boundless love," the proclamation states. "Through prayer, we recognize the limits of earthly power and acknowledge the sovereignty of God."
Continuing, the president encouraged Americans "to give thanks, each according to his or her own faith, for the freedoms and blessings we have received and for God's continued guidance and protection." The president also said Americans should pray for U.S. troops and for the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the entire Middle East.
Organizers of the national observance acknowledge not just the power of prayer and its potential effect upon a nation, but also the necessity for prayer -- particularly at this time in America's history. Shirley Dobson, chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer, says a sincere return to God is the only hope for the nation.
"President Ronald Reagan said 'If we ever forget we're a nation under God, we'll be a nation gone under,'" she says, adding that "as God is being stripped out of the public square, we're seeing more lawlessness, more decadence, more problems in our schools -- and as Scripture says, 'Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.'"
Vonette Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, one of the participants in National Day of Prayer events at the White House and on Capitol Hill, says it is a day to thank God for His blessings of liberty and seek divine guidance for the nation's leaders. The honorary chairman for this year's National Day of Prayer is Col. Oliver North, whose book True Freedom communicates how prayer provides freedom from guilt, anxiety, the power of sin, and self-deception. North provided the keynote address at the national event in Washington, DC.
Faith Comes by Hearing
For the fifteenth year in a row, the Word of God is being read publicly -- non-stop and from cover to cover -- as part of the National Day of Prayer events in the nation's capital. Once again, Pastor Mike Hall of the People's Church is co-hosting the event.
"Each year we sign up about a thousand people [to read the Bible] starting on the Monday prior to the National Day of Prayer," Hall explains. "We come together, and over a period of 80 hours, we read through the entire Bible."
Hall says the public reading is not as easy a task as one might think. He says it was raining when they set up early Monday morning -- and it continued until midnight. "The people stood out here in cold, driving rain and read through the beginnings of the Old Testament with wind blowing the stage around, and we continued till last night. And we're still reading today," the pastor says.
Since Monday, God's Word has been read over an amplified sound system that covers a large portion of the National Mall. The last verse of Revelation will echo through the Mall sometime Thursday afternoon. For everyone involved, it is a labor of love and grace.
Grumbling GLSEN
A pro-homosexual group has expressed its outrage over President Bush's presidential proclamation supporting the National Day of Prayer. The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) claims the event specifically asks Americans to "pray for intolerance" by affirming the traditional family.
Kevin Jennings, GLSEN's executive director, says it is an "affront" that Bush took time to celebrate what Jennings describes as "a program and organization that seeks to eliminate millions of Americans from the very fabric of our national family." Use of the phrase "traditional family," according to GLSEN, is meant to specifically exclude "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered" (LBGT) individuals and their "families."
The pro-homosexual group also notes that while the White House neglected to proclaim support for GLSEN's recent "Day of Silence," both the Democratic National Committee and presidential hopeful John Kerry issued statements in support of that event.
"We had hoped that the president's failure to respond to our invitation [to support the Day of Silence] was merely an oversight, but clearly this endorsement of the National Day of Prayer signals a bigger agenda at work," Jennings says.
