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Staff photo Brian Larsen
About a dozen people from several Christian denominations gathered on the step of the Cook County Courthouse on Thursday, May 4, to take part in the National Day of Prayer.
The 2023 theme for the National Day of Prayers is “Pray fervently in righteousness and avail much. James 5:16B “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
Tim Ramey opened with a prayer, Aaron Isbell read James 1:2-6, Liz Wagner followed with Psalm 125 and the whole group recited Second Chronicles 7:14 and then joined voices to sing Our God is an Awesome God.
With the wind whipping the U.S. flag in the background the group recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Each person took turns offering prayers that covered praying for the leaders of the U.S. government, America’s families, schools, children, churches, revival, and a variety of other issues and concerns. The noon meeting went past 1 p.m. and ended with reciting Psalm 1.
History
On April 17, 1952, a bill initiated by Mr. Conrad Hilton of Hilton Hotels and Senator Frank Carlson of Kansas became public law. The bill stated, “The President shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and mediation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.
Since then, there have been many updates to the public law. In 1987 Senator Thurmond wrote and introduced bill (S. 1378) to the Senate Judiciary Committee which amended the public law (82-324). That bill passed in the House and Senate in 1988 and President Ronald Reagan signed Public Law (100-307) to designate the first Thursday in May to annually observe the National Day of Prayer.
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