Antonio Belarmino: Day of Prayer helps a city unite and proceed
Friday, I was in work grubs, headed for my pickup at 5:55 a.m. Though retired, I still wear business suits and ties on a semiregular basis.
Why in the world would I be up, dressed and headed out the door at that time of the morning?
The National Day of Prayer was established as the first Thursday of May by President Truman in 1952. Earlier presidents had called for special days of prayer, but for more than six decades it has been official.
For 22 years there has been a Turlock Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast that brings together representatives from all segments of our city’s society for the specific purpose of praying for our community. Mayor Gary Soiseth has a great legacy in these breakfasts, since his father, Scott, was on the original organizing committee and served for many years.
As a city, we have been blessed with mayors who have seen the need for prayer in order to fulfill their civic duties.
As soon as I entered the Assyrian American Social Hall, I was met by a couple of men who had a table. There were four pastors who are either on staff or attend Northside Assembly of God and one foreign missionary. In all, there were 640 people at breakfast that morning.
There were formal prayers offered for our families, the youths of our community and our civic leaders by three leaders.
I am glad there are people who see the honor and privilege of upholding our leaders in prayer. Prayer does a lot more good than criticism in getting things accomplished. A lot of people who pray also offer positive suggestions and help. We do not need to agree with everything our leaders do to hold them up in prayer. I am thankful, for decades, there have been people praying for me and my leadership who I absolutely know did not approve of everything I did.
The keynote speaker this year was Steven Curtis Chapman, who sang his song “Let Us Pray” that was used for a Day of Prayer in our nation’s capital. He was booked as a speaker, but is not a speaker; he let his six strings help tell the story. He ended up singing six songs.
The theme of his presentation was how God gets us through tough times. He told about how his daughter was killed in a tragic accident and how his family has gotten through the hard times that followed. That theme was emphasized as he sang “Glorious Unfolding.” In the song “The Great Adventure,” he told the story of his family. Of course, one of the songs was “Cinderella.”
He stressed that our lives, personally and professionally, will be strengthened through prayer in order that we can become what we are supposed to be.
Getting up at 4:30 a.m. was worth it, not just to hear Chapman but to realize that any challenges facing our city can be met head on.
This story was originally published May 21, 2015 at 10:44 AM with the headline "Antonio Belarmino: Day of Prayer helps a city unite and proceed."