Day of Prayer marked
Wake Up America.
That was the message of this year's National Day of Prayer, which was celebrated Thursday across the nation.
The event is led by the National Day of Prayer Task Force, a nonprofit organization that aims to “mobilize prayer in America and to encourage personal repentance and righteousness in the culture.”
At the North Street Christian Church, the Rev. Bob Huber, pastor, guided about 15 churchgoers in prayer during a lunchtime service.
For Huber, the day was a call for the Christian community to strengthen its connection with God and to increase how many Americans are living righteous lives.
“Obviously, prayer is not on the hearts of the people of America very much,” Huber said. “It's really a call to the church. We should pray about everything.”
Huber does not believe the average parishioner prays enough and recommends a half hour of prayer daily, he said.
A lot of the nation's problems today have roots in spiritual issues, he said, and the way to solve those problems is to start with prayer.
Another pastor at the church, the Rev. Jake Klutinoty, believes that prayer needs to be emphasized as the foundation of a relationship with God.
Klutinoty said he is passionate about stressing how prayer is as simple as having a conversation and communicating.
“The church, as a whole, is so weak with prayer,” he said. “But it's really simple; it's just communicating. How can we expect any change in the world if we don't give (the problems) to God?”
Parishioner Sherry O'Donnell agrees, saying the country needs to bridge its religious gap and return to Christian values.
“It's just recognition of how far away from godly values we've been as a nation, as people,” she said.
Prayer is often considered a last resort, but it needs to be the opposite; prayer should be the first step, she said.
O'Donnell believes that the nation's “turmoil” could be solved by praying and doing things God's way.
During the guided prayer at the North Street Christian Church, individuals were prompted to pray for national and local leaders, public servants, the poor, the sick, the homeless and the addicted.About 20 people attended a special service at the Penn Mar Plaza.“It's to bring the community here together,” said organizer Kay Fitzwater of the National Day of Prayer, “We pray for our nation and families.”In regard to this year's theme of “Wake Up America,” Fitzwater said, “We're sleeping in our prayer life. What happens when you wake up? All of you senses are alert. We need to wake up.”The Rev. Jim Callender, who runs politicalheaven.org, spoke about being successful in praying to God.“If you're coming to God so that He hears your voice, this is where you need to take stock in who you are and how important your voice is in the world and people around you,” he said.He also spoke about being humble.“I don't think we in this country understand at this point what humbling ourselves is,” Callender said.Chris Gibbs, pastor for the CrossWay Church in Valencia, spoke about the phrase “In God We Trust” in American history.“It's something that is on the smallest amount of money we have, a penny,” Gibbs said. “It's a phrase that is often times treated like a penny because it's there but it doesn't really matter. But it has value.”The phrase originates from “The Star-Spangled Banner” written during the War of 1812. The phrase first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864, and in 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a law that made it mandatory for the phrase to appear on all U.S. currency.
“This is something that has taken a lot of challenge,” Gibbs said. “People have challenged it as a contradiction to the Establishment Clause.”Bill Bittner, president of Butler County Against Heroin, spoke about the prevalence of the drug in the county and prayed for businesses and education.He said a drug epidemic is a “spiritual problem.”“The problem is we're trying to put in almost all of our total efforts into treating the symptoms,” Bittner said. “We need to attack what's causing the problem.”“Almost everyone is affected in some way in a drug situation,” he noted.Other speakers there included Sandy Tindall, a member of the Grace Church of Harmony, and John Pistorius, pastor of St. John's Reformed Church in Chicora.Seven topics are prayed for on the National Day of Prayer: government, church, military, family, education, media and business.
