Prayer Gathering Planned at First Baptist Church
To be held on the National Day of Prayer
Prayer Gathering Planned at First Baptist Church
To be held on the National Day of Prayer
MARLBORO: First Baptist Church is extending an invitation to Christians of all denominations in Marlborough to join together in a spirit of unity for a local prayer gathering on the National Day of Prayer, Thursday, May 5 at 7pm. “National days of prayer have been a part of our nation’s heritage since the days of our founding,” noted First Baptist Pastor Logan Loveday. “With so much unrest and division in our country today, there is a desperate need for we in the Church to ask forgiveness for our sins, and seek God’s mercy and healing for our land.”
Days of national prayer in America trace back at least to 1775, when less than two months after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Continental Congress President John Hancock declared June 12th as a “Day of Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, that we may with united hearts and voices … confess and deplore our many sins.” Hancock further proclaimed, “It is recommended to Christians of all denominations to assemble for public worship and to abstain from servile labor and recreations on said day.”
While there is a modern notion that the United States was established as a secular nation, there are numerous landmarks in the nation’s capital city that tell a different story. Perhaps most notable are these words engraved on the Jefferson Memorial. “Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”
As another example, the words, “Laus Deo!” are found at the very top of the Washington Monument, which was the tallest structure in the world at the time. The words translate, “Praise be to God.”
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln are among many notable leaders who declared specific days during which people should gather to pray in a spirit of repentance for the nation. Many decades later, President Harry Truman was the first to establish a National Day of Prayer that would repeat annually. “In times of national crisis when we are striving to strengthen the foundations of peace … we stand in special need of Divine support,” declared President Truman.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan officially established the observance of a National Day of Prayer to be held on the first Thursday of May and it has been held on that day ever since.
“This is a unique opportunity for local Christians to obey the Scriptural admonitions to unite together in love, and devote ourselves to prayer,” commented Pastor Loveday. “We are looking forward to join with our Christian neighbors and pray for our city and our nation on May 5th.”
First Baptist Church is located at 22 Mechanic Street, Monument Square in downtown Marlborough, next to the Marlborough Public Library.