At service in Capitol, Bishop Rivituso calls for daily prayer, eagerness to help God’s most vulnerable people

Keeping God as the focus, staying committed to daily prayer and helping restore dignity to society’s most vulnerable people are keys to making this a truly great nation.

It must start with recognizing God as the source of all goodness, help and inspiration, according to Bishop Mark S. Rivituso, auxiliary bishop of St. Louis.

“Shouldn’t we be one with God in wanting what’s best for everyone, bringing out the best in one another and seeking to be the best we can be?” Bishop Rivituso asked during an interchurch prayer service in the Missouri State Capitol Rotunda on May 3.

The event was one of thousands held throughout the country to mark the 66th annual National Day of Prayer.

This year’s theme was “Pray for America — Unity,” based on Ephesians 4:3: “Making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

“With God’s help and grace, we can rise above the things that divide us and defeat us, and triumph by God’s goodness,” Bishop Rivituso stated.

He spoke of the need to promote healing, mercy and reconciliation, building bridges between people who don’t talk to each other, upholding people’s dignity, mending wounds, responding to “so many voices who find themselves helpless and hopeless, and bringing the hope of God into those lives.”

There’s too much human suffering — including broken families, divided communities, increasing poverty and escalating gun violence — to leave God out.

“If we are going to face those problems and challenges, God must be part of the equation to find lasting solutions,” said Bishop Rivituso. “We need to be open to God’s grace and help, so that we find real solutions and have God bless our every effort.”

If allowed to do so, God will make this nation truly “great with compassion, great with love and goodness, a nation that is truly great in living out God’s concern for all,” Bishop Rivituso stated.

Praying daily is crucial, “so that we may encounter the God Who is faithful to us and be witnesses of His love and goodness and holiness in the world today.”

Bishop Rivituso led the assembly in prayer:

“As we confront the challenges before us, may we be blessed with Your wisdom and counsel, to meet these challenges with Your grace, help and inspiration and strive to make a difference.

“... As we see those in need, help us to accompany them in their poverty and need, enrich them by Your compassion, shown through us, and assure them they are never alone, never forgotten, and that You always care about their cares.”

Prayers in stone

Jill Noble, director of the Missouri National Day of Prayer Task Force, said this year’s observance “is perhaps the most significant in our lifetime.”

“We have been charged with awaiting an awesome responsibility to serve God and His Son Jesus in advancing the Kingdom — first, as the holy, righteous and redeemed, and then as laborers in the field, gathering the harvest,” she said.

Pointing to the 70th anniversary of its establishment May 14, Rabbi Derf Eukel of the Kehilat Nahar Zerach River Rising Congregation in Mount Vernon spoke of the relationship between the modern state of Israel and the United States, and prayed for peace in Jerusalem.

State Treasurer Eric Schmidt encouraged everyone to take note of some the various inscriptions on the Capitol walls.

“There are prayers — prayers for all of us, for the people who serve here, for the people who visit here, for the people who come after us,” he said.

Furthermore, the building’s artwork depicts struggles and victories people experienced as they came to this state, along with their prayers for their families, for a better life, to be able to practice their religious freely, to be able to speak their mind without persecution.

“All of those prayers that were theirs are our prayers today and represent the best of us as a people,” he said.

Don Hinkle, newspaper editor and public-policy advisor for the Missouri Baptist Convention, invited lawmakers and state officials forward and prayed over them.

“Give them strength, give them courage and help them to pass laws that are righteous, and that bring honor and glory to You,” he prayed.

Standing in the gap

“Only a united Church can heal a divided nation!” proclaimed keynote speaker Will Ford, director of the Marketplace Leadership Major at Christ For The Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas.

Standing next to the copper kettle his slave ancestors had used to muffle the prayers their slave masters had forbidden them to pray, Pastor Ford recounted some uncanny historical coincidences that helped him see God’s hand in the liberation of slaves and the abolition of long-standing resentments.

“What color is your baggage?” he asked, referring to all racial resentments. “Whatever color it is, get rid of it! Because we need each other. Especially in the church.”

Like the former slaves and white nurses who worked together to treat injured soldiers from both sides at the end of the Civil War, “we need to be the ones standing in the gap, to heal the wounds of those who are trying to tear each other apart,” he said.

The Rev. James Jackson from House of Prayer Family Church in Jefferson City prayed with the assembly: “We ask for Your blessing ... as we move forward in Your plan and Your purpose for our lives, individually and corporally, as a body of believers and as a nation.”