The National Day of Prayer on May 6 comes at a time when the need is both urgent and great for united prayer for our country. Are there any issues in our culture on which there is general agreement or consensus? Rather, what we regularly observe in our culture is brokenness, chaos, conflict, and unrest.
We have endured a “once in a hundred years” pandemic. Masking, social distancing, vaccinations, shutdowns, and re-opening all have been contentious problems that have drained and divided us.
Making “all things political” has only proven that politics cannot fix or heal us—it has only more deeply divided us. Prayer is the way we appeal to Almighty God on behalf of our country, our leaders, and our people. Only His supernatural mercy, grace, and wisdom can restore and heal us.
May 6, 2021, is a day for all of us in the EPC to join with other churches and believers in Jesus Christ to pray specifically for our country.
In addition to participating in the National Day of Prayer, the EPC has convened focused times of prayer in the last year or so. With the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the EPC issued a call to a Good Friday Day of Fasting and Prayer on April 10, 2010. This was in response to COVID-19 and subsequent shutdown of the U.S. This call was endorsed by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), with many denominations joining in prayer that day. A Day of Lament, Fasting, and Prayer on June 8, 2020, followed in response to the violence and social unrest in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.
The National Day of Prayer was originally signed into law by President Truman in 1952. It asked that all Americans pray for their nation. In 1988, this law was amended by designating the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer. The amended law was pass unanimously by the U.S. House and Senate. Let us act in the same unanimity and join with thousands—yes, millions—of other Christians on Thursday, May 6, in prayer for our country, our leaders, and our fellow citizens.
More information about the National Day of Prayer is available at www.nationaldayofprayer.org.
by Jeff Jeremiah
EPC Stated Clerk