Today is one of those days when civil religion intersects with the church calendar in the National Day of Prayer. This year the event is embraced in an official way in the PC(USA) by the Mission Yearbook and the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. Unofficially we have contributions from Presbyterian Devotions, Presbyterian Bloggers, and a word of caution in a commentary from the Aquila Report. Over on beliefnet Mark D. Roberts talks about it being viewed with different opinions. But there is a commentary on Religious Dispatches by Elizabeth Drescher that gave me a good chuckle. The piece is titled “Forget Right of Wrong: Why the National Day of Prayer is Obsolete” and as you might be able to guess her point is that with the trend in demographics with segments of the population of the United States shifting from “religious” to “spiritual” the National Day of Prayer no longer is relevant. She sums it up with this:
In this world, a government-sponsored National Day of Prayer may not be
appropriate or Constitutional, but it fails most because, as a civic and
as a spiritual event, it’s about as culturally relevant to the
developing mainstream of American believers and non-believers alike as a
National Day of Butter Churning.
Maybe she is right as this is viewed from the civic perspective, which it must be in part because of the government endorsement and participation. But while cultural relevance may be a civic consideration it does not make sense as a spiritual one in this case — I could see it being argued that the event is even more important from a religious/spiritual perspective because it is not culturally relevant. And from a religious perspective the organizers would argue that she has the cause and effect reversed – it is not that we are religious there for we pray, it is that we are called to prayer to make the country more religious. But I digress…
What caught my attention, and which I can speak authoritatively to, is her opening line:
The Constitutional
issues around a National Day of Prayer endorsed by the federal
government are significant, and the political stakes are high (or hyped,
depending on your perspective), but the controversy also reflects the
continuing failure of mainline religions to grasp a dramatic cultural
change in what constitutes religious or spiritual “practice.” (emphasis mine)
Now maybe what she means here by “mainline religions” is better expressed as “traditional western religions” or maybe even “evangelical Christians.” I have trouble making it mean “mainline churches.”
In my experience, and the examples I cite at the beginning not withstanding, the mainline denominations have not been the driving force behind the National Day of Prayer. I can’t speak for other denominations, but at least in 1997 it was not listed on the Presbyterian Planning Calendar of the PC(USA). (And I can not tell you if at any point before that it was listed.)
In 1997 as an Elder Commissioner to the 209th General Assembly I was on the Theological Institutions and Issues Committee. One of our “routine” tasks was the approval of the church calendar for 1998 and the tentative calendar for 1999. In my usual way I started asking question about the calendar and why certain things were on there and some were not. (It turns out that it really helps to have program materials ready to promote your “special Sunday” if you want to get it added to the calendar.) Anyway, the commissioner a couple of seats down from me asked about the National Day of Prayer and then made the motion to include it in the calendar. The committee approved the addition as did the full Assembly as part of our Consent Agenda. Don’t believe me? Here is the applicable section of the minutes (p. 73) of our Consent Agenda report:
That the recommendation is approved with amendment:
Amend the “Special Days and Seasons 1998 Lectionary Year C”
calendar, in the “MAY 1998” section to read as follows: [Text to be
deleted is shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is
shown as italic.]
“MAY 1998
3
Fourth Sunday of Easter
7
National Day of Prayer
10
Fifth Sunday of Easter
17
Sixth Sunday of Easter
21
Ascension of the Lord*
24
Seventh Sunday of Easter
31
Day of Pentecost*+”
So, the National Day of Prayer is now included in the PC(USA) calendar not because it came from the standing committee of the General Assembly on worship, but because some commissioners started asking questions of their report and the committee amended it.