The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May as an annual national observance established in public law (105-225). The theme for the 66th observance is For Your Great Name’s Sake! Hear us …Forgive us …Heal us! – taken from Daniel 9:19.
Two local coordinators working in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer Task Force, have combined efforts this year to plan a 24-hour prayer emphasis in southern Madison County. Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at 7 p.m. a community event will be held at the Madison Central School cafeteria. Pastors and church leaders will serve as table hosts for small group prayer following a brief introduction of patriotic songs.
Thursday, May 4, all are invited to meet on the green in Hamilton from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The plan is to pray for local and state government, law enforcement, first responders, businesses and education centers followed by the noon streaming of the National Prayer from Washington, D.C. The third-floor meeting room at the Colgate Bookstore has been reserved in the event of severe weather preventing the use of the green for this purpose.
Thursday evening at 7 p.m., the culmination event will be held at Randallsville New Life Church. Students at New Life Christian school will prepare pillars to represent seven areas of influence in our society: Government, military, media, family, church, education and business. All are welcome to choose a specific area of interest to join in prayer or circulate to each of the stations of prayer.
The National Day was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Later, President Reagan signed a law establishing the first Thursday in May as the designated date for the annual observance of the National Day of Prayer. Churches in Hamilton, Madison and the surrounding area have been invited to participate.
More details about the history of the National Day of Prayer and other events happening nationally are available from the National Day of Prayer Task Force nationaldayofprayer.org/. For more information about the local events, contact one of the coordinators: Bonny Keys praybonny@hotmail.com or Beverly Settle bjtmsettle@yahoo.com.