| By Chaplain, Major General, Charles C. Baldwin (USAF, Retired)Chaplain, Colonel, Alexander F. C. Webster (USA, Retired)STARRS Board of Advisors With only a few weeks to go until election day, we are bombarded by political messages. Most of us have made up our minds and will cast our vote for the candidates for U.S. President and Vice President we believe will lead our nation in the right direction. Is there anything else that WE can do that will make a difference at this time in the race? President Abraham Lincoln said, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” What each of us CAN DO is follow Lincoln’s example by praying. It is time for people of faith to “knock down the doors of heaven” with our earnest prayers for Almighty God to intervene in this time when people may wish to do the right thing but are still struggling over what IS the right thing. We need God to guide us and to work through our election system to raise up the worthy leaders from President to every national, state, and local position that needs to be filled. The great soldier who became King David wrote, “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God.” (Psalm 5: 1-2a).” We too should ask Almighty God continually for His help and His guidance. We know God loves us and continually blesses His children. We know God is “in charge.” He is the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. He knows “when a sparrow falls.” And we know God desires that we seek His will and His plan for our lives. In America, we are guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that we can, without fear of retribution, pray according to our own consciences. The STARRS community knows well the powerful Constitutional promise of the phrase “….nor prohibit the free exercise thereof.” We know that we can pray freely according to our own faith traditions for God’s intervention in our lives individually and as a nation. So . . . let’s do it! On the STARRS website is form for each of us to “say a prayer” for Almighty God to guide our nation during this critical time in our history. Post a prayer from your own faith tradition for our nation. Some prayers will begin with “Dear Jesus . . . “ or “ All Holy Trinity . . . ” Some will use a beloved passage from the Hebrew Scriptures. Some will pray as if they are talking to their best friend. Be true to your faith and to your own conscience and share a prayer with all of us. This is a sincere request for all of us Americans to “put our faiths together” for the common good and trust God to intervene. As President Lincoln said, “. . . by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” ~ Comment from another member of the STARRS Board of Advisors, Lt Col. Bob Reimer, PhD, USAF ret, USAFA '97: The conversation about the role of faith in our country’s struggle is all too often missing, so this idea is a welcome addition to the ongoing public discourse. You are all no doubt familiar with John Adams’ observation that, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” A respectful and dignified call for prayer stands in stark contrast to the public mockery of faith that has become all too familiar. We need more efforts that point people to the freedoms they have—I can’t help but think that too many people devalue the Constitution simply because they have lost their faith. |
