In the United States, it’s the National Day of Prayer, held the first Thursday of May.
Various articles are gonna say the National Day of Prayer began in 1952. It didn’t really. Congress and various presidents have called for national days of prayer, starting with the first Continental Congress in 1775. They just haven’t been consistent. Ten presidents never bothered to call for any such days.
What did happen in 1952, was Billy Graham held a rally on the steps of the Capitol, which spurred Congress to unanimously pass Public Law 82-324, signed into law by Harry Truman. It says,
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.
Truman scheduled the first National Day of Prayer for 4 July 1952, and next year Dwight Eisenhower scheduled it for the same day, 4 July 1953. Then it started moving round the calendar. Mostly it happened Wednesdays in late October. In 1972 there were two.
| PRESIDENT | DATES | |
|---|---|---|
| Harry Truman | 4 July 1952 | |
| Dwight Eisenhower | 4 July 1953 26 October 1955 2 October 1957 7 October 1959 |
22 September 1954 12 September 1956 2 October 1958 5 October 1960 |
| John Kennedy | 4 October 1961 16 October 1963 |
17 October 1962 |
| Lyndon Johnson | 21 October 1964 19 October 1966 16 October 1968 |
20 October 1965 18 October 1967 |
| Richard Nixon | 22 October 1969 20 October 1971 18 October 1972 |
21 October 1970 16 February 1972 17 October 1973 |
| Gerald Ford | 18 December 1974 14 May 1976 | 24 July 1975 |
| Jimmy Carter | 15 December 1977 3 October 1979 |
7 October 1978 6 October 1980 |
| Ronald Reagan | 19 March 1981 5 May 1983 2 May 1985 7 May 1987 |
6 May 1982 3 May 1984 1 May 1986 5 May 1988 |
In 1988, Public Law 100-307 fixed it to the first Thursday in May, and that’s what it’s been ever since. (In fact, as I was looking up the dates for the previous National Days of Prayer, my search engine kept insisting it took place the first Thursday of May of that year. Nope. Bad search engine.)
Largely the National Days of Prayer were left up to the presidents until the 1980s. In 1974 the International Congress on World Evangelization was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, and on their return to the States, the American delegation decided to create Mission America to enact some of the plans they’d made in Lausanne. Part of Mission America was the National Prayer Committee, founded in 1979 and headed by Vonette Bright, one of the founders of Campus Crusade for Christ International (now Cru). They met in Washington D.C., started coordinating with the White House about National Day of Prayer events, and held their first joint event in 1983 in Constitution Hall.
What does the event look like? Well, y’know: Speeches from politicians and clergy. Prayers. Sometimes presidents let the National Day of Prayer Task Force take the lead; sometimes not. Sometimes they’re good reminders about the importance of
But what does this National Day of Prayer thing do? Well, it’s a reminder to
And for
What ought we pray about?
The NDP Task Force recommends people pray for families, churches, businesses, the government, the military, the schools, and the media. They figure these seven “centers of influence” affect people most, so that’s likely what we oughta pray for most—pray that these follow God, and they be (or become) a blessing to the people of this country. (I should point out my prayer points aren’t taken from theirs.)
- FAMILIES. We oughta pray for healthy marriages between
mutually submissive spouses, healthy parent-child relationships, and for the resources families need to stay healthy and growing. Including child care and healthcare. - CHURCHES. We oughta pray for their leadership, for them to hold tight to Jesus’s teachings and mission, for all Jesus’s churches to work together in love, and to reach and help the lost and needy.
- BUSINESSES. We oughta pray for moral, ethical, and wise leadership; for equitable treatment of their workers and customers; for their profitability when they do right; for public accountability and God’s judgment on the leadership when they don’t.
- GOVERNMENT. We oughta pray for elected officials, and the officers and judges they appointed. We oughta remember to pray for them at every level of government—national, state, county, city, and neighborhood. Like businesses, for moral, ethical, and wise leadership; for equitable treatment of their citizens; for justice.
- MILITARY. We oughta pray for their leadership, for the stresses they and their troops are under, for military families, for their safety… and for the people they’re sent to fight; we Christians gotta love our enemies.
And, as always, for peace. - SCHOOLS. We oughta pray for wise and well-funded, well-supported teachers; for the students they’re equipping to become productive, knowledgeable citizens; and for the academic freedom to teach truth despite people who offend easily at our often uncomfortable history.
- MEDIA. We oughta pray for courageous journalists who strive to get at the truth regardless of resistance. We oughta pray for the public to heed those truths, and act accordingly. As for entertainment and social media… well, we pray God mitigate its excesses and abuses.
Plenty of websites are offering prayer ideas, which you can follow along with… or not. Too many of them are way too political for my taste, and keep mixing up nationalism with
Numbers 6.22-27 NKJV 22 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:24 “The LORD bless you and keep you;25 The LORD make His face shine upon you,- And be gracious to you;
26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,- And give you peace.” ’
27 “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Pray with your church, if they’re doing something. Pray with the folks who have gone to city halls, capitols, courthouses, or who are just gathering around flagpoles. And if you can’t make it to those places, pray by yourself—but do pray.
