GREENFIELD — Bowed heads and closed eyes filled the Greenfield City Council chambers on Thursday as visitors sought spiritual guidance for the country during the National Day of Prayer.
The theme for the 67th running of the annual event was “Pray for America.” Prayer leaders from a variety of professions throughout Hancock County tied that theme into messages about business, churches, family, government and public safety. They also reached out to God regarding media, medicine, military, education, peace and justice.
The Greater Greenfield Ministerial Association organizes the local observance.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryFrank Klauder, a deacon at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Fortville who led the event, asked God for forgiveness on behalf of the country.
“We are failing you by dishonoring one another through our harsh and bitter words about each other,” Klauder prayed. “We are failing you through broken relationships, we are failing you by devaluing human life from conception until death. We are failing you with the division in our nation.”
Klauder called for a spiritual awakening throughout the U.S. and asked God to help everyone in the country choose “love over hate, unity over division and life over death.”
When Emily Eno of Lincoln Square Pancake House prayed for business, she asked that companies be honest, respectful, wise and productive.
“Come and reveal new openings and areas for expansion and development,” Eno prayed. “May our businesses grow and flourish, creating great opportunities and provisions for our community. Grant us the inspiration, motivation, right direction and resources to succeed in our businesses. Help us to stay focused and reap honest rewards for the benefit of all.”
The Rev. Roger Kinion, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, prayed for churches. He thanked God for the way local places of worship come together on the National Day of Prayer and prayed that they be houses of hope, restoration and good news.
Greg Hall of the Greenfield Water Department, who prayed for government, emphasized God’s sovereignty. Leaders are in their positions to carry out God’s will, he said, and asked that their constituents support them.
Greenfield Fire Chief Jim Roberts prayed for law enforcement and public safety. Cities built walls for protection during ancient times, he said, adding that today God provides public safety personnel for that purpose.
Roberts prayed for protection for public safety personnel when encountering the dangers they often face in their lines of work. He also asked for guidance for the split-second decisions they often have to make.
His prayer included leaders managing public safety funds and emergency dispatchers as well.
“They are our first form of public safety,” Roberts said of dispatchers. “They hear and visualize things when talking to callers that many people cannot begin to understand.”
The Rev. Russ Jarvis, chaplain at Hancock Regional Hospital, prayed for medical professionals. They work long hours and face “situations of great tension and crisis,” he said. Jarvis also thanked God for the discoveries medical professionals have made.
Matt Dickerson, a retired U.S. Air Force major, asked God to provide military members with courage, wisdom, leadership and protection throughout all ranks. He prayed that their right to worship be protected as well.
Karla Whisenand, executive director of Love in the Name of Christ, prayed for peace and justice and said the U.S. “needs God more than ever.”
“We need his peace within our hearts and in our communities,” she said. “The further society has strayed from God and his word, the more turbulent and divisive we’ve become. And bringing the lost into the loving arms of Jesus Christ is really the only true hope for peace and justice.”
Ann Vail, associate superintendent of Greenfield-Central Schools, prayed for education.
“You tell us to have faith like that of a child,” she prayed. “They are bursting with curiosity and full of love. Protect their innocence, keep them safe, we pray, and preserve that spark in their eyes from the darkness of the world.”
Joan Wilson of Brandywine Community Church prayed for family while John Senger, advertising director of the Greenfield Daily Reporter, prayed for media.
The annual observance got underway with the Greenfield Fire Department’s presentation of colors, Kathy Wright’s singing of the national anthem and a proclamation from Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell.
Mike Manning, a retired pastor of Trinity Park United Methodist Church in Greenfield, told the Daily Reporter that prayer is important because people can’t just rely on themselves.
“We need God’s help in everything we do,” he said.
Paul George, associate pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Greenfield, agreed.
“Things happen when people pray,” he said. “Prayer changes things. More will happen through our prayers than will happen through any amount of protest and hatred and throwing our weight around. We let God do the work.”
George said he admires the National Day of Prayer for the way it brings the area’s churches together.
“There’s power in unity and churches coming together,” he said. “We may have some doctrinal differences, but we believe it’s important to pray for our nation and our communities.”
