In small groups and alone, about 100 people gathered Thursday on the steps of the U.S. Capitol for what participants said was to be a low-key ceremony to mark the annual National Day of Prayer.
Amid the liquid noises of a nearby fountain and the sounds of people just walking by, participants could be heard making hushed pleas to God.
"Don't expect any music or sermons. Don't expect any pomp. Just prayer," said Nancy Sharman, area leader of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. "No personalities. Just prayer. No party divisions. Just prayer."
How about no media coverage, just prayer. No, of course not. That would be too much to ask. After all, it's not really a national day of prayer, if you can't nag the entire fucking country about it.
Thursday's prayer event marked the conclusion of a five-day, four-night Bible reading held on the Capitol steps and organized by the Rev. Michael Hall, executive director of the International Bible Reading Association. More than 1,000 participated in the marathon reading, said Hall, who is also pastor of The Peoples Church on Capitol Hill.
"As Christians we don't need a political strategy, we just need God's word," Hall said.
Uh-huh. And a church. Don't forget church, where every day is a national day of prayer. Gee, that was handy, if less public.
The Rev. Franklin Graham prayed briefly Thursday morning outside the Pentagon, which had disinvited him from a prayer day observance because of anti-Islam remarks.
Graham then went to the Cannon House Office Building, next to the Capitol, to participate in what amounted to a Christian worship service.
There, he preached a 30-minute sin-and-salvation sermon to an audience of several hundred that included members of Congress, the judiciary and the armed forces.
"My prayer is that America once again will worship the Lord Jesus Christ," Graham said. "My prayer is that America will trust Him once again. My prayer is: 'Lord, if You're willing, make our nation whole again. May we turn to You, worship You, acknowledge You, live by your ways and your standards.' God bless America."
Graham is honorary chairman of the largely evangelical National Day of Prayer Task Force, which is led by conservative Christian leaders James and Shirley Dobson.
Before he preached, Graham alluded to the Pentagon controversy: "I know we have people here of other faiths, and I certainly want to say that I love you, but, please, allow me to speak today as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't want to be offensive to anyone, but the only way I know how to pray and to preach is the way the Bible instructs."
There's something in practically every sentence of that last excerpt that makes anyone with a triple-digit IQ want to slap their forehead in frustration. But it really comes down to the final piece. This is a purely Christian jihad, and they may as well just insert the C-word right in front of "Prayer", in naming their little fake holiday and little fake "task force".
In a land chock-full of noisome, childish pseudo-customs, this is certainly one of the pound-for-pound more obtrusive. Especially since, according to the very first sentence, only 100 people showed up. That certainly merits national coverage.
2 comments:
'Lord, if You're willing, make our nation whole again.
Our nation was rent asunder? I missed that.
Unless he means, "Please return a high-born white man to the Preznitzy." But that'd evince a bigotry and royalism incompatible with the teachings of the mad Hebrew of Galilee. I must be a bit dense; I don't understand what he's praying for.
Then again, "You cannot petition The Lord with prayer!"
May we turn to You, worship You, acknowledge You, live by your ways and your standards.'
Let's see, Yeshua's Great Leap Forward was transforming "an eye for an eye..." into "turn the other cheek." I'm not so sure that's a workable philosophy for a nation-state. Maybe his Holy Scripture reads, "Love thy neighbor. Except for the Messcans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, hippies, commies, faggots, Persians, Ayrabs, Soshulists, libruls, innuleckshuls, Pakis, wogs in general, and the Frogs."
P.S. - Good to see you back. Learn something new from you often, e.g. - I thought calculus was the stuff which forms on one's teeth.
Yes, if the Jebus of the New Testament were to actually return, as they pray for so fervently, they would instantly deride him as a bleeding-heart commie faggot. That whole part about "even as ye love me, ye also love the least of my brothers" doesn't even register with them.
Of course, it doesn't really register with me, either, but at least I don't pretend to be something I'm not, and then have the balls to insist that everyone else indulge my hypocrisies.
It's good to be able to spend a little more time on the soapbox, for as long as it lasts. It does have its therapeutic moments.
The class I'm currently in ends next Saturday, then I have three weeks off until the next one, so I should be rolling pretty well in here through the end of this month, unless I decide to finish one or more of the books I'm reading.
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