April 29, 2002
EDITORIAL:
America bends its knees during National Day of Prayer
___Americans will bow with a renewed sense of urgency during the National Day of Prayer this Thursday, May 2.
___Sept. 11 turned the nation to its knees. Fearful of the present and uncertain about the future, an alarmed public flocked to churches and synagogues that evening and through the coming weeks. Surveys showed that worship attendance peaked last fall, reaching levels unseen since the Gulf War.
___That fervor has abated. Attendance ebbed as the sense of pending danger declined. However, the focus of prayer--and America's need for prayer--is certain to spike again this Thursday, as people across the nation gather in a simultaneous effort to petition God for peace and guidance.
___This week marks the 51st annual National Day of Prayer, although the concept is much older. The First Continental Congress called for a day of prayer in 1775. President Abraham Lincoln urged Americans to set aside a day for prayer in 1863. The National Day of Prayer as we now know it was established as an annual effort in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress, signed into law by President Harry Truman. The law was amended in 1988, when the event was designated for the first Thursday in May each year.
___"America United Under God" is the theme for this year's event. In communities across the nation, people will cross political, religious, racial, ethnic and social barriers to join hearts and hands in holy prayer. Across Texas, many Baptist churches will open their doors to people of numerous denominations as they provide leadership in joining forces for prayer.
___The exercise of corporate non-denominational, non-partisan prayer is good for our communities, state and nation.
___The most significant benefit of the National Day of Prayer is prayer itself. As Christian believers, we understand that God hears and responds to our prayers. The focused prayers of so many people will be a bountiful blessing in and of itself. We do not force God's hands through our prayers, but our earnest prayers and petitions will provide a holy faith offering to the Lord.
___Another benefit of the National Day of Prayer is Christian unity. So often, we segregate ourselves in denominations and local churches, rarely interacting, much less offering a joint witness of our faith. Participants in the day of prayer will say to a watching world that we can come together, despite theological and political differences, for the common purpose of seeking God's guidance and blessing. As much as the words we offer, the testimony of our joint worship and combined prayers will say that our God is bigger and more binding than our differences.
___And yet another benefit is the reminder this day provides us for the rest of the year. Every day, particularly every Lord's Day, is a reflection of Easter, and yet we need every year to focus on the Easter event, how Christ died and rose again, defeating death for all time. So, too, we need a National Day of Prayer to remind us that all our days should be days of prayer. We need to remember that, out of grateful hearts, we ought to give thanks to God, and out of concerned hearts we ought to lift our cares to God. This day will encourage us to pray and give boldness to our prayer lives.
___For what should we pray?
___This of all years should remind us of the abundant blessings we have received. We can give thanks--thanks for life and health and new days to spend with people we love. Sept. 11 taught us not to take these so-called simple things for granted. The lessons we have learned from world events ought to remind us how blessed we are to live in a free land, where each of us can exercise liberty of religion and speech and self-determination, and to live in a land of promise and opportunity and hope.
___When we think back over the events of the past year, we will be compelled to pray for those who have suffered much--people whose health and livelihoods have been taken, people who have lost loved ones, people whose dreams have been dashed. We will want to pray for those whose burdens of responsibility have been multiplied--President Bush and other governmental leaders, soldiers, investigators, security personnel of all kinds. We will turn to pray for children who now grow up in a world that feels much less safe than it did less than eight months ago, for youth who look at life through somber lenses, for the aged who feel more alone and lonely because the world has turned scarier in their twilight days.
___But let us not expend all our prayer energy on ourselves. Let us pray for all the nations and for people who are foreign and even hostile--especially hostile--to us. Pray for Afghanistan and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and other places opposed to the gospel. Pray for the Taliban and al Qaeda. Pray for Israeli and Palestinian, Sharon and Arafat. Pray for Muslim extremists in Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as for Christians who seek to transform them through faith in Jesus Christ.
___May we also pray for ourselves. Not selfishly; we hear too much of that. But may we pray that our lives will be worthy vessels of Jesus' transforming grace, and that wherever we go, God will use us to lead people not only to prayer, but to faith.
___ —Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
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