For the first 180 years of this nation’s existence, prayer was as
American as mom, baseball, and apple pie. Americans prayed--everywhere. It was
part of our heritage. In my own lifetime, I can remember when prayer was a common
thing at high school graduations, high school football games, city council
meetings, and just about any public venue.
This began to drastically change when the Supreme Court, in 1962,
banned prayer in public schools. Since that time there has been a growing hostility
toward Christian prayer, and a crusade to ban it in every public venue.
A recent target of this un-American, anti-prayer crusade is Joe
Kennedy of Bremerton High School in Washington state, a Marine Corps veteran
and coach of the football team. Kennedy has a long tradition of kneeling to
pray at the end of each football game and is often joined by some of the
players.
He was recently notified by the District Superintendent, Aaron Leavell, that his public prayers must stop, even
though it is a personal prayer on his part and no one is required, or even
asked, to join him. The notification to cease and desist included the added warning,
“Your talks with students may not include religious expressions, including
prayer. They must remain entirely secular in nature.”
This is ironic in
light of the fact that America was birthed in prayer. Prayer played a vital role
in its beginning—at each Continental Congress, with George Washington, with the Continental Army, and with the American populace
in general. We might say that prayer was part of being American!
Prayer at the First
Continental Congress
The First Continental
Congress met in Philadelphia to decide how to respond to Britain’s growing attempts
to tax and control the lives of the colonists without their participation. Because
of growing colonial protests, British troops had been dispatched to quell the
“disturbances.”
As delegates traveled
from New England in the north, and from as far south as South Carolina, it
weighed heavily on their minds how two regiments of British troops had just occupied
the city of Boston and closed its port.
At the first meeting
on September 5, 1774 it was proposed that they begin their deliberations with
prayer. Two delegates opposed the motion on the grounds that they were such a
diverse religious group—Anglicans, Puritans, Presbyterians, Quakers, etc.—that it
would be impossible for them to pray together.
Samuel Adams, a
Puritan from Boston, arose and said that he was not a bigoted man and that he
could join in prayer with any person of piety and virtue who loved his country.
He went on to say that although he was a stranger to Philadelphia he had heard
of an Anglican minister, a Rev. Dusche, who was such a man and proposed that
they invite him to come and lead them in prayer.
Adams proposal was approved
and Dusche was asked to preside over a time of Bible reading and prayer. As the
elderly, grey-haired Dusche stood before the Congress, he began by reading the
entire 35th Psalm, which powerfully impacted everyone present. It is
a prayer of David for deliverance and begins with the words, Plead my cause
O LORD with those who strive against me; fight against those who fight against
me. The Psalm ends with praise for God’s deliverance.
As the Psalm was read,
a unique sense of God’s presence filled the room and tears flowed from many
eyes. John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail of the impact of the Bible reading
and prayer on the delegates. He said;
Who
can realize the emotions with which they turned imploringly to heaven for
divine interposition and aid. It was enough to melt a heart of stone. I never
saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seems as if heaven had ordained that
Psalm to be read that day. I saw tears gush into the eyes of the old, grave
pacific Quakers of Philadelphia. I must beg you to read that Psalm (Hyatt, America’s Revival Heritage, 69).
After reading the
Psalm, Dusche began praying for the delegates, for America, and especially for
the city of Boston and its inhabitants who were under siege. As he began
praying, the Anglicans, such as George Washington and Richard Henry Lee, knelt
in prayer according to their custom. The Puritans, according to their custom,
sat with bowed heads and prayed. Others prayed according to their own unique
customs. But although their outward manners differed, there was a singleness of
heart and purpose as they all united in prayer for God’s assistance and
intervention for America.
The Influence of the
Great Awakening
This could only happen
because there had been a great Spiritual awakening (1726-1770) that created a
moral and prayerful tone throughout the colonies. When, for example, the Great
Awakening came to Philadelphia, prayer became so prominent that Benjamin
Franklin said that one could not walk down any street in the city without hearing
prayer and praise coming from houses on every street (Eddie Hyatt, The Faith & Vision of Benjamin Franklin,33).
Through the incessant
labors of revivalists like George Whitefield, denominational walls were broken
down and the scattered colonists, for the first time, began to see themselves
as “one nation under God.” Through the Great Awakening, prayer became a very
real part of the American experience. Prayer became as American as mom and
apple pie.
George Washington
Institutes Prayer
Prayer continued to be
vital part of the proceedings of the Continental Congresses. In fact, at the
Constitutional Convention in 1787 Benjamin Franklin reminded the delegates how
that during the war (1775-1783) “we had daily prayers in this room for Divine
protection” (Hyatt, The Faith &Vision of Benjamin Franklin, 62).
During the Second
Continental Congress (1775-1781), where there was daily prayer, it was
unanimously decided to declare independence from Great Britain. The Declaration
of Independence was then issued on July 4, 1776. They also asked George
Washington to become the commander-in-chief of the ragtag continental army.
Washington accepted
the call and immediately set out to bring a moral discipline to the troops. He
issued an order that there was to be no drunkenness or profanity and that each
day was to begin with prayer led by the officers of each unit. He also ordered
that unless their duties required them to be elsewhere, every soldier was to observe,
“a punctual attendance of Divine services, to implore the
blessing of heaven upon the means used for our safety and public defense.”
The Congress and the
Nation Prays
During the War, the
Continental Congress issued no less than fifteen proclamations of “humiliation
and prayer” calling on all Americans to set aside particular days to fast and
pray for God’s assistance to their cause. The proclamation of 1779 urged the
nation “humbly to approach the throne of Almighty God” to ask “that He would
establish the independence of these United States upon the basis of religion
[Christianity] and virtue.”
At the close of the
war, George Washington wrote a circular letter, dated June 14, 1783, to the
governors of the various states, which included his “earnest prayer” that I
here quote in part. He wrote;
I now make it my earnest prayer that God would
have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he
would incline the hearts of the citizens . . . to entertain a brotherly affection and love
for one another . . . and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and
pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of
our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these
things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.
Here’s How We Must
Respond
There is no question
that America was birthed in a milieu of prayer. Prayer was such a vital part of
the early American experience that in 1787 the “nonreligious” Benjamin
Franklin chided the Constitutional Convention for not praying before their
deliberations and called on them to pray and ask God for His help and
assistance.
So, let us not be
intimidated into thinking that prayer is somehow inappropriate for public or
political venues. Remember how Tim Tebow was ridiculed by liberal pundits for
kneeling on the football field to pray and give thanks to God? Those individuals
were obviously uninformed about American history for prayer is American--as American
as mom, baseball, and apple pie.
Let us, therefore, be bold in our faith. Let us be salt and light
in this generation. Let us pray for another Great Awakening in the land. It is
the godly thing to do! It is the American thing to do!
Dr. Eddie Hyatt is an author, historian and ordained minister. His books on Spiritual awakenings in church and American history are available from Amazon and from his website at www.eddiehyatt.com. He is the founder of the Revive America Project, whose goal is to inspire faith and vision for another Great Awakening in the land.
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