As reporter Nick Williams summed up in this early report, the nation has celebrated National Day of Prayer, a call to find humility and encourage one another to pray for the nation, since the observance was enacted by Congress and signed by President Harry Truman in 1952.
One of the events was at noon in front of the Manatee County Courthouse, where
seven community leaders led the crowd in prayers, with the theme "One Nation Under God."
Each prayer leader focused on one of the "Seven Centers of Power": government, military, business, church, family, education and the media. I was honored to be asked to lead the prayer for the media -- an assignment that sent me searching for wiser prayer leaders.
My resources included my uncle, the Rev. A.C. Settlage in Chicago (soon moving to Bradenton!); the St. Bride's Church in London and its journalists' altar; and my own heart. As a journalist and person of faith, this had to be "from the heart," as photojournalist Grant Jefferies reminded me just before we started.
So we prayed for courage, inspiration, wisdom, guidance, justice and peace. Most of all, we prayed for love and truth.
People gathered at the courthouse to pray/gjefferies@bradenton.com. A link to Grant's gallery.
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