Public Prayin'

If you are at all surprised by the number of times you hear someone say, at a public function of one sort or another, "... and now we are going to ask Bobby's Dad, Mr. Jones, to lead a prayer before we get started this evening," then You Ain't From Around Here, Are You?

Nephew Chris played on the Greenland High School Pirates football team, and we were all sitting in the stands the evening of the first game, ready to cheer him and the rest of the team on to a smashing victory. What a surprise to hear from the announcer's booth the invitation for the gathered crowd to join some fellow in a prayer before the game started.

The prayer invoked God's Blessings and Watchful Eye on the athletes on the field, and reminded us all of the importance of good sportsmanship and fair play. He then went on to ask that same Watchful Eye to look over us and help us along our way in life. Nice touch.

Then again, not too long ago, when Pee Wee football Coach Barton called for a potluck party to celebrate the end of the little guys' season, some fellow was asked to say grace before the festivities began. I have appreciated that sort of thing a lot lately, because we saw so little of it where we came from.

Now, don't get me wrong here. I am not saying that Nebraska is full of a bunch of heathens (though I have met more than my share, I think.), or that the idea of a prayer of some sort never enters into the public realm there. For instance, two of the boys have been pretty heavily involved in Boy Scouts for several years. As you probably know, God and Country are two very strong and important points in the basic principles of that organization. Most Scout parents certainly believe that the two can co-exist rather handily. Very often at various Scout functions, one parent or another would be asked to lead the group in a prayer for one special reason or another. Never once that I know of was there any negative question raised about it. But at a High School football game? No, not lately.

The reason, of course, has its roots in the flurries begun several years ago by some folks who decided that the separation of Church and State meant that anything that didn't take place inside a church building was public domain, and there was no need for God to be involved. So, we had a rash of happenings which made more than a few people on both sides of that fence pretty uncomfortable.

We've tried taking the words "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance. We have fought over Christmas Nativity scenes on the Town Square. We have seen High School and College Baccalaureate ceremonies drop their traditional religious overtones. The greatest bug-a-boo of all, we have fought over prayer in schools. The on-going result is that we are so increasingly afraid of offering offense to one person or another that we are hesitant in offering our Thanks for that same person. Go figure.

Some of our friends were absolutely sure that we were moving back in time by moving back to Northwest Arkansas. "You'll never make it back to the '90s if you settle in the South!" Yeah, there are a lot of things around here that move a little slower than they do up North. People talk a little slower and generally aren't in all that much of a hurry unless it is necessary. But that's okay with me. We can learn to live with that.

It may take a little time, but if one of the parts and pieces of that is the frequent public affirmation of our belief in and dependence on Something-Bigger-Than-Ourselves, it is just one more little reason that I am happy to be here. And I'll be proud to lead the next prayer.

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Gordon F. Parrish. Gordon has been married for 24 years and has 6 children. He describes himself as "a Christian who tries." Several years ago he and his family moved back to his Birthplace in Northwest Arkansas. Shortly after that, he started writing a weekly newspaper column titled, "You're Not from Around Here, Are You? Today's Daily Wisdom post was edited by Keith Todd, moderator of the Sermon Fodder list which offers Christian humor and modern day parables for enjoyment and for use as sermon illustration material. To subscribe drop a note to Sermon_Fodder-subscribe@onelist.com