This Thursday, May 7th, is the 2015 National Day of Prayer. On this day, Christians in my community, and all across our country will gather together for National Day of Prayer events. In years past, I have intentionally avoided participation in these events. The reason being, in previous communities I served, these events were more of a political rally for a very narrow political ideology than they were about praying of our nation. If I want to go to political rally I will, but I have little time for one shamefully veiled as a prayer meeting.
So it was, when I when I came to our community, I kept my distance from this event. That was until a colleague, whom I respect greatly, asked me to participate in last year’s event. I told him that I would not and gave him my reason. He assured me our community’s event was very different from my past experience. Based on his assurance and my respect for him I said I would still not participate but I would attend the event and observe. And this is what I did last year. I was happy to experience an event centered on prayer rather than political ideologies.
Now here I am a year later and a few days away from this year’s event. Once again, I have been asked to participate in our community’s National Day of Prayer service. This time I have accepted and because I am a pastor I have been asked to lead the group in praying for the church.
So I have been pondering what it means to pray for the church on a day like this. Particularly in light of what has happened in our nation and world the past year. What kind of prayer should I be praying?
Only one kind of prayer seems appropriate. A prayer of confession of our sin and repentance. It is the only one I can pray, with any integrity, as one who represents the church. Scripture calls the people of God, the church, to welcome the stranger, to care for the poor, to cross racial and ethnic barriers, to be a place where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
In Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963) Dr. King has much to say about the role of the church in society:
There was a time when the church was very powerful–in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.
By the church’s example, we can bring and end to the racism and violence in our society. By living the example of scripture, the stranger can find rest in the shelter of the church. By our example the deaf will hear, the lame will walk, the oppressed will be released, the blind will see, the prisoner will go free, and good news will be proclaimed to the poor (Luke 4:18). The poor in money and the poor in spirit. This I truly believe.
That path forward begins with the confession of our sin as a church. So this National Day of Prayer will you join me in a prayer of confession and a commitment, by the power of God’s Spirit, to be a different church?
Blessings,
Pastor Stephen