Nation Prayer Days Service Disappointment

[CEWLLW]

A prayer service for National Prayer Day is such a great idea and as a first timer I wondered why more villagers didn't attend. It didn't take long to figure out why; it felt like a political rally or a revival and rarely touched upon the importance of prayer especially in light of a struggling government. This service could have been aired on fox. The concentration should have been on prayer not on the dislike and distress of our current government, bad parenting, and kids that are just not being brought up properly. Shame on these organizers. We are so blessed to be living in our nation. There are good government servers, great parents and wonderful kids to celebrate. What could have been an uplifting experience turned into a real downer. Can we not pray for our government as it stands today instead of praying for change? The changes take place every four years and we can't ignore who needs prayer right now.

[gomoho]

Boy howdy!!!!

[kittygilchrist]

Boy Howdy..it's not an easy feat to get two boy howdies on your first post.

[buggyone]

Make that another Boy, Howdy.

There is no reason to use what was billed a National Prayer Day as a bashing on the government day and things wrong with our country.

Politics should have been kept out of the agenda completely.

[kittygilchrist]

Make that another Boy, Howdy.

There is no reason to use what was billed a National Prayer Day as a bashing on the government day and things wrong with our country.

Politics should have been kept out of the agenda completely.

this is a touchy subject....was it bashing? I don't know...who was there?

[onslowe]

Touchy subject indeed, Kitty, I agree. If the moral landscape of the country is not that good and people of faith criticize certain aspects of it, is that automatically political?

Direct political agendas should not be in a prayer day, but, is the purpose to praise government? That could imply satisfaction and acceptance and endorsement, no?

[ilovetv]

It boils down to this:

Some subordinate their politics to their religion and what God has said in Scripture, putting God in the highest position.

Others filter God and their religion thru their own politics and agenda, which for them are in first place.

Worshiping God means being subordinate to Him and His Ten Commands.

I knew at the service yesterday that, as one example, the mention of 53 million unborn babes being killed since 1973--stated as a major reason to pray for the nation--would bring anger in some political minds there.

But I think the point was to remind people of the anger there should be for innocents who didn't get a chance at their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It's going to be a stand-off for a long time to come. It will be talked about, as it should be.

For those not there, much of it was about returning to God for His renewed blessings on the nation, with readings from Deuteronomy 6 and 7:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%207&version=NIV

[buggyone]

Sounds like an uber-conservative convention to me. Sure glad I was not there.

[ilovetv]

Sounds like an uber-conservative convention to me. Sure glad I was not there.

Not really. Much was said to pray for our military, whom most people respect despite their obedience to those who send them to war when none of the choices is a good choice.

[mickey100]

A prayer service for National Prayer Day is such a great idea and as a first timer I wondered why more villagers didn't attend. It didn't take long to figure out why; it felt like a political rally or a revival and rarely touched upon the importance of prayer especially in light of a struggling government. This service could have been aired on fox. The concentration should have been on prayer not on the dislike and distress of our current government, bad parenting, and kids that are just not being brought up properly. Shame on these organizers. We are so blessed to be living in our nation. There are good government servers, great parents and wonderful kids to celebrate. What could have been an uplifting experience turned into a real downer. Can we not pray for our government as it stands today instead of praying for change? The changes take place every four years and we can't ignore who needs prayer right now.

I agree. Sure sounds like a conservative agenda to me, not appropriate for Prayer day.

[kittygilchrist]

I wasn't there. Here is the theme from the organizing task force:

To further highlight our theme, we’ve chosen Romans 15:6 as our Scripture for this year: “So that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You can't go wrong if you stick to that. I view askance when the OT is relied on. Some of it establishes law to propound the need for grace (crucifixion.) Those passages are not to be achieved currently, as they have already been fulfilled and surpassed, or one could say, superceded.

[DaleMN]

"They" are shameless. :doh:

[ilovetv]

"They" are shameless. :doh:

Actually being present gives insights that contradict this generalizing and stereotyping.

[buggyone]

Actually being present gives insights that contradict this generalizing and stereotyping.

The quoting from the Old Testament ( "For those not there, much of it was about returning to God for His renewed blessings on the nation, with readings from Deuteronomy 6 and 7") sounds pretty drastic - and in a way sounds similar to the Koran, doesn't it?

"and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.[a] Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy."

Those words should not be used at a Day of Prayer.

[onslowe]

It's not always a good idea to quote isolated passages without citation, identification and some contextual basis. Many scholars without a bias or an agenda will explain that the 'destroy' (it's 'destruction in my ESV Bible) refers to the total dispossession and eviction of the various Canaanite peoples from the Promised Land. This taking away of their identifiable land would lead to their destruction as a people - not the 'genocide' so many anti-religious wish it to be. Read about the 'poor' Canaanites who sacrificed their little children.

[Mary Lou]

We attended the service at New Covenant Methodist Church and it was very nice. Not at all political, just a nice prayer service.

[blueash]

I am ignorant of the history of the National Day of Prayer so I looked it up. It does not seem that it was intended to be a fundamentalist Protestant occasion but rather an event inclusive to the wide range of theisms in our nation. Was there representation of faiths such as Catholic, Unitarian Universalist, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh... you get the picture or was this an exclusively Conservative Protestant event aimed at that faith community? All the quotes I see on this forum and in the Daily Sun seemed representative of that segment of the nation.

[ilovetv]

I meant to link Deut. 6 above because this was one of the readings and main themes....to raise godly children for a godly nation.

Love the Lord Your God

5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

12 be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery......

20 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?”
21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
22 Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household.
23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors.
24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.
25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."
Deuteronomy 6 NIV - Love the LORD Your God - These are the - Bible Gateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%206&version=NIV)

[ilovetv]

Website:

National Day of Prayer (http://nationaldayofprayer.org)

Still Under God
Still…Under God | National Day of Prayer Task Force (http://nationaldayofprayer.org/still-under-god/)

[DougB]

A prayer service for National Prayer Day is such a great idea and as a first timer I wondered why more villagers didn't attend. It didn't take long to figure out why; it felt like a political rally or a revival and rarely touched upon the importance of prayer especially in light of a struggling government. This service could have been aired on fox. The concentration should have been on prayer not on the dislike and distress of our current government, bad parenting, and kids that are just not being brought up properly. Shame on these organizers. We are so blessed to be living in our nation. There are good government servers, great parents and wonderful kids to celebrate. What could have been an uplifting experience turned into a real downer. Can we not pray for our government as it stands today instead of praying for change? The changes take place every four years and we can't ignore who needs prayer right now.

Can't tell you why more Villagers didn't attend. Since you don't say where it was I even have no idea which "service" you are referencing. Sorry you thought it sucked. The one I attended was very uplifting and motivating.

[blueash]

Website:

National Day of Prayer (http://nationaldayofprayer.org)

Still Under God
Still…Under God | National Day of Prayer Task Force (http://nationaldayofprayer.org/still-under-god/)

The National day of Prayer. org website to which you linked is a private organization that has simply chosen as its name the same term as the day. They do not have any legal standing to specifically celebrate the day on behalf of the Congress or Americans in general and in fact are a fundamentalist led organization. The chairperson is James Dobson of Focus on the Family's wife. The list of the staff is almost entirely made up of people from Dobson's organization.
On the website under FAQ is this:
Is the National Day of Prayer exclusively a Christian event?
No. This government-proclaimed day is offered to all Americans, regardless of religion, to celebrate their faith through prayer. However, the efforts of the NDP Task Force are executed specifically in accordance with (our organization's) beliefs.

Thus the NDP you have linked is a group with a very particular definition of the kind of prayer it wants to push and a clear agenda. So I ask again, was the event here meant to be one welcoming all faiths or only meant to welcome those who would agree with a Focus on the Family view of faith and America? If it was the latter, that would explain why the OP was discomforted by the presentation.
There is nothing wrong with a right wing organization sponsoring a right wing prayer meeting, as there is nothing wrong with a left wing church having one of its own. But perhaps it would be better if the slant of the organization were not hidden behind the name National Day of Prayer which might lead some to assume a more neutral presentation. No one would expect to go to an Independence Day event and have it be a bunch of speakers exhorting the state to secede from the United States and be independent. https://www.facebook.com/FloridaSecessionMovement