The National Day of Prayer?
Was our country really founded on Christian Principles? Back in the day, if you were a white European, you most likely considered yourself a Christian. Many of our founding fathers were deists – they believed in some god – but not necessarily the God of the Bible. It is true that all the early documents on which our nation was founded, from the Mayflower Compact on thru the Constitution and Bill of Rights, mentioned God, and faith in God as an important factor. But again, some god, and I wonder really, what god? It is true that public schools were established in our nation because the leaders believed that educated individuals made good citizens, and part of that education was the ability to read the Bible for themselves. But the Bible, although honored by many, was being interpreted through (on the most part) European, Protestant – mainly Lutheran and Calvinistic – lenses. The idea of Manifest Destiny, that God ordained the European – White – expansion across the North American continent, gave them the right and responsibility to clear the way of the “savages” who were here first.
What does it mean to a Native American today, when we claim that the United States of America was founded on Christian/Biblical principles? Do you realize that most “Indians”, even those who name the name of Christ and follow the Jesus way, believe that Jesus is the white man’s God? Those public schools I mentioned, and even so called Christian Schools run by missionaries, worked very hard in the 1800s and first half of the 1900’s to teach the “Indian out of the Indian.” If our armies couldn’t kill them all, we could at least rob them of their culture and dignity. Basically, if they didn’t want to burn in hell, they were told, they had to give up everything that made them a unique and noble people. They had to become “white” in order to be saved.
Today there is a debate going on over the National Day of Prayer. Our country is trying to be tolerant and unbiased in the matter of religion, so when a Christian says that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light, and the only way to the Kingdom of God – their freedom of speech disappears into a haze of political correctness. I think that is wrong. But to argue the matter claiming that this country is and always has been a Christian nation is also wrong. We did not deal with the First Nations in a Christ-like manner. We did not deal with the slave issue in a Christ-like manner. How long did it take for the Civil Rights movement to bring about change in this Christian nation of ours? Our founding fathers said “all men were created equal” yet denied the humanity of non-whites and even women. We are a nation where Christian teaching is beginning to be called hate-speech. We are a nation where the ultimate form of child-abuse is protected as a right which even outweighs the parents’ right of notification. We are a nation that justified mass killing of women and children in the name of Manifest Destiny. We are a nation with innocent blood on our hands. This National Day of Prayer, should be a National Day of Repentance. We dare to claim to be a nation called by “His” name. Our leaders dared to sing “God Bless America” from the steps of a federal building when we were attacked. What god’s blessing were they calling for? We dare not name the name of Jesus – since that is not politically correct. Are our leaders praying to Allah? Buddha? Krishna? Isis? There was a public reading of the Bible in Washington DC this week. Nehemiah, Chapter 8 records a similar event, and the people listening were weeping...because they realized that they had not been following His word?
Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
Let this day be sacred to the LORD our God, and let our prayers be sincere and Christ centered. I will be praying for my dear Navajo students, many of whom are lost in the darkness of self-doubt and intense identity crisis’. I will be praying for my friends on the largest Indian reservation in the country, trying to keep their rich culture alive, some living in the center of the United States without adequate electricity, heating or plumbing. I will pray that the 95% of Native Americans who are not “saved” will discover the truth of the Jesus of the Bible, who looked and lived a lot more like them and their ancestors, then those of the European’s who claimed they were founding this new nation on godly, Biblical, Christian principles.
Yahweh, Creator God, Living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit God, bless this Land and its people. Protect the innocent; strengthen the Christian leaders and guide all our leaders. Bless Your people with wisdom, provision, and Shalom – peace that passes understanding - and make us strong in our walk with You. Shed Your light on those lost in the darkness, from sea to shining sea! Forgive us for not taking a stand for truth and justice, while singing our patriotic songs and arguing politics. Forgive us for what we have done and what we have failed to do. For Yours is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen!
