By LORETTA FULTON

At least two organizations will host live National Day of Prayer services on Thursday.

1-Kingdom, an organization of local civic leaders and ministers, and the Abilene Interfaith Council, which has members from various faith traditions, will host services that are open to the public. 

1-Kingdom is sponsoring several prayer opportunities throughout the day, all at Festival Gardens at the Abilene Zoo. A come-and-go prayer time will be held 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“Participants are invited to come and join with other believers to pray for our nation and our city,” according to a news release from 1-Kingdom. “There will be a short time of gathering each hour at twenty minutes past the hour.”

Also, live worship and corporate prayer times will be held at noon and at 6:30 p.m., with pastors leading the gathering in prayer for the nation. 

There will be live worship and corporate prayer at 12 noon and 6:30 pm with pastors and leaders who will lead the gathering in prayer for our nation.

Also, food trucks will be available during the noon and dinner hours.

The Abilene Interfaith Council will host a prayer service at noon Thursday at the Center for Contemporary Arts, 220 Cypress St. Dr. Omer Hancock, retired Hardin-Simmons University religion professor, will serve as master of ceremonies and will read a brief history of the National Day of Prayer. 

The service will end with the traditional “breaking bread together in peace” ceremony. Challah bread for the ceremony will be provided by Gay Beitscher. 

Following are participants in the Abilene Interfaith Council program:
Episcopal – Fr. David Romanik
Baha’i- Nellie Doneva
Buddhism – Jatumas Adair
Catholic -Judith Phaneuf
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – Dr. Brian Sorensen – Hendrick Health
Dyess Chaplains – Chaplain, Major Matthew Clouse
Hindu- Dr. Sanjay Srivastava – TTHSC
Hospital chaplain – Wesley Erickson
Humanist – Greg Wilson
Native American Spirituality – Icie Mitchell
Orthodox Christianity- Ken Herfurth
Protestant – Cliff Stewart, pastor, First Central Presbyterian Church

Click here to read a Pew Research Center study on how often Americans pray.

National Day of Prayer history
The National Day of Prayer is a vital part of our heritage. Since the first call to prayer in 1775, when the Continental Congress asked the colonies to pray for wisdom in forming a nation, the call to prayer has continued through our history, including President Lincoln’s proclamation of a day of “humiliation, fasting, and prayer” in 1863. In 1952, a joint resolution by Congress, signed by President Truman, declared an annual national day of prayer. In 1988, the law was amended and signed by President Reagan, permanently setting the day as the first Thursday of every May. Each year, the president signs a proclamation, encouraging all Americans to pray on this day. Last year, all 50 state governors plus the governors of several U.S. territories signed similar proclamations.
Source: http://www.nationaldayofprayer.org

Loretta Fulton is editor of Spirit of Abilene