I’m not exactly what you would describe as a prayerful kind of person. I’m eternally frustrated by people who evoke prayer to avoid productive action or who wield their faith like a bludgeon to fulfill a political agenda. But I do support prayer when it serves as a call to action, when it actually spurs people to do something about their situation. Certainly, the prayers of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served not only as an appeal for God’s help, but also as a rallying cry for the civil rights movement. The kind of prayer that gets people out of the pews and into the streets? That’s the kind of prayer I can get behind.
National Association of Evangelicals and the Evangelical Environmental Network are sponsoring the second National Day of Prayer for the Gulf, to be held Sunday.
Churches along the Gulf Coast, whose congregants’ lives and livelihoods were directly impacted by the devastating effects of the oil spill, will join others from across the nation in calling for restoration of their coastal environment and relief for struggling families. Churches in Port Sulphur, LA and Bayou La Batre, AL will participate, and on Sunday in Gulf Shores, AL-area congregations will join together for an inter-denominational sunrise service on the beach at Gulf State Park.
The organization’s suggested prayer is “Give us the wisdom to end this tragedy.” I support that sentiment, especially when it’s accompanied by action. While BP may have stopped the implosion of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the overwhelming amount of destruction has not gone away. An extraordinary amount of cleanup work remains.
For more information on the event or to find a participating church, go here.
