Unity Theme of National Day of Prayer Event
By Sarah Naron
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – Many members of the community of Grapeland joined together in the Little White Church in downtown Grapeland – First Christian Memorial, Inc. – for an event in observance of the National Day of Prayer at noon on Thursday, May 3.
Among those who spoke during the service was Tammy Hassell, president of the First Christian Memorial Board.
“Sunday, we had a fundraiser here at the Little White Church, and we raised $1,500,” Hassell shared. “And that sort of makes me think of unity, which is what the National Day of Prayer is centered around this year.
“When you come to things like this that the church has or when you are able to come and support the Dinner on the Grounds or anything we do here – that, to me, is unity in our community,” she said.
Hassell encouraged those in attendance to spread the word about the event in hopes of seeing an even larger crowd partake in 2019.
“I really would love to see this church filled,” she said. “Let’s see if we can continue each year to have more people than we do today. I think the more people that we have involved, the more encouraged that we all are, and the more blessed that we are.”
Special music was provided by Chuck Allen of First Christian Memorial of Crockett, who also led the congregation in singing classic hymns such as “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”
Grapeland Mayor Balis Dailey provided information on how the National Day of Prayer came to be in America.
“In 1952, it was actually made into a day of thanksgiving or prayer to our Heavenly Father,” he explained. “It was set into law by President Truman. And then, it was set as the day that we have today – which is the first Thursday of each May – in 1988 by President Reagan.”
Dailey expressed gratitude for the presidents of the past, who have upheld the tradition of observing the National Day of Prayer each year.
The sermon was provided by the Rev. Jon Thornsbury of First United Methodist Church of Grapeland, who began by reading Ephesians 4:1-6 – the official passage selected for the 2018 National Day of Prayer.
As Thornsbury pointed out, the scripture consists of writings in which the Apostle Paul stresses the importance of maintaining the unity of the Spirit.
“One of the things we have to realize, my friends, is that we are called to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, because Jesus has already attained that unity by what He did on the cross,” Thornsbury said. “So, we have to maintain that unity, and that means that every day, we have to walk out of our doors and walk out into the world and maintain that unity by walking worthy of the calling which we have been called.”
As Thornsbury explained, Paul used a number of attitudes Christians should exhibit along their “worthy walk,” such as being humble.
“This virtue is necessary for us to properly keep ourselves where we’re at when we’re with other people,” Rev. Thornsbury said. “Without this virtue, members of the body begin trying to be the head of the body.”
The rightful head of the body composed of united Christians, as Thornsbury pointed out, is Christ only.
“The next thing that Paul says is gentleness – that we’re to be gentle, mild, meek,” Rev. Thornsbury continued.
Many individuals believe that to possess meekness means “to be walked all over,” Thornsbury said.
“If we look at people in the Bible, meekness wasn’t being walked all over. It was power under control,” Thornsbury said. “Moses was meek, but when the Israelites did something, did Moses just sit back? Jesus was meek and lowly at heart, but when He walked into the temple, what did he overthrow? A couple of tables.”
Thornsbury also discussed the characteristic of being long suffering, which Paul also discussed in his writing.
“The idea here is patience,” Rev. Thornsbury explained. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not patient. I want it now. I want it 10 minutes ago. And our culture continues to breed that in our children.”
“Bearing with one another in love” was another topic discussed during the sermon.
“Similar to long suffering, bearing means to sustain or to hold up or to endure,” Thornsbury said. “And long suffering and forbearance is not possible without deep love. If someone can’t bear with somebody, then the issue is not forbearance. The issue is love.”
Displaying the aforementioned virtues is no easy task for human beings.
“That’s why we need the Holy Spirit,” he said. “That’s why we need to be walking with the Spirit. That’s why we need to be walking daily with Christ in control of our lives.”
Sarah Naron may be reached via email at [email protected].
