Keeping prayer as a community lifestyle cornerstone

National Day of Prayer is a unique celebration because this observance is a celebration of our freedoms, freedoms that have been with us from the beginning of our country.

It is a particularly poignant day each year and grows more important in relevance at a time when many in the religious community feel they are under increasing attack from those who they believe would deny these same freedoms.

In some ways this is nothing new. Religious persecution and efforts to stifle worship have been with us from the beginning.

But it's easy to perceive that there has been an increase in attempts to remove or eliminate religious expression, from the Bible, to the Ten Commandments, to opening the day in prayer, to excising God in the pledge of allegiance. The debate has reached states and even communities where church and religion have formed the bedrock of society.

Prayer has come under attack at school functions, most notably prior to and after high school athletic games and at graduation ceremonies. Across the country, many smaller communities and a number of school principals and coaches have ignored the ban and continued allowing student-led expression.

Communities where the pastors of the different congregations had opened the Friday night athletic contests with a prayer for safety and sportsmanship supported the continuance of these practices.

As our country has continued to morph into a greater melting pot of cultures, many Christians have felt singled out for exclusion when their symbols and expressions have come under fire while other freedoms have been protected.

Fortunately, that's not been the case in our communities.

Freedom of religion and of choice is abundant. Our area is blessed with a variety of churches and a variety of worship times and services.

We are able to celebrate the power of the spoken word, the prayerful word, the written word, and particularly the inspired word.