Last Thursday’s National Day of Prayer took on an extremely strong meaning this year compared to others in the past.
Ministers from all over Grenada County passionately prayed for a range of subjects including city and county officials, national race healing and an overall quick halt to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re joining hundreds of thousands across this land to join in prayer,” First Baptist Church of Grenada Min. John Boler said.
Dozens assembled on the Historic Downtown Square at noon on a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70s. Retired Parks and Rec Director and local minister Larry Young opened the event in prayer followed by the National Anthem played by Min. Jonathan Moore.
In a year blanketed by not only the coronavirus pandemic, but racial tension throughout the nation, in appropriate fashion, Moore also sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the James Weldon Johnson hymn that’s referred to as the Black National Anthem.
The Rev. Melvin Montgomery of Faith and Grace Missionary Baptist Church asked in prayer for healing of the land.
Since the first COVID-19 case was diagnosed in March 2020 there have been 86 deaths in Grenada County.
“Thank you Lord for the vaccine,” Montgomery prayed. “Thank you for your miracle works. We know you’re a healer because we’re told by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”
After tragedy struck the area last week when a tornado hit Calhoun City just 20 miles east of Grenada, destroying dozens of homes and businesses the Rev. John Goldwater of Christ Community Church asked the Lord to bless the neighboring county.
Goldwater would later pray for each Grenada City Councilmen, Mayor Billy Collins, the Grenada County Board of Supervisors and each county elected official by their names.
“We pray for all first responders, teachers, educators, administrators, bus drivers,” Goldwater prayed. “We’ve been in school since August and that’s all because of you and your power.”
The National Day of Prayer is observed on the first Thursday of May yearly. The day was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman.
The National Day of Prayer has united Americans from all ethnic, political and socioeconomic backgrounds in prayer. The day also encourages “personal repentance and righteousness in the culture.”
