new church life: september / october 2013
before with the “shot heard ‘round the
world” at Lexington and Concord. If
ever a time was needed for prayer that
time had arrived. And so, on June 12, a
proclamation was issued by the Congress
setting aside the first National Day of
Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer.
The first of two such proclamations,
it was remarkably conciliatory toward
Great Britain and called upon God as
the “great Governor of the World, by His
supreme and universal Providence” to
end the present calamities and to seek
a way for reconciliation. But on June
17, just five days after this proclamation
was issued, the first major battle of the
American Revolution took place just
outside Boston. Known to every school
child as The Battle of Bunker Hill,
this bloody conflict resulted in heavy
casualties. More than 400 Americans and
more than 1,000 British Regulars were
either wounded or killed.
Still, in the slim hope for peace,
three weeks later Congress adopted what
was known as the Olive Branch Petition
appealing directly to King George III.
Refusing even to look at the petition, the King issued a proclamation of his
own declaring the American Colonies to be in a state of “open rebellion.” And
with this decree, the die was irrevocably cast and events marched steadily
toward a declaration of independence the following July, almost 14 months
after hostilities began.
In March of 1776, a second National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and
Prayer was resolved by Congress. The message of this proclamation was totally
different from that of the year before. In an impassioned appeal, it spoke
of battles against the Crown in the cause for freedom, virtue and posterity.
Congress called upon the help of God asking that “… He grant that a spirit of
incorruptible patriotism, and pure undefiled religion, may universally prevail;
and that this continent be speedily restored to the blessings of peace and liberty…”
It was both a public plea to God for His Divine protection and a call to duty.
And, it clearly set the final push for independence.
Today, despite assaults
on our freedoms at
every turn, we must
always acknowledge,
as did our founding
fathers, that it is God
alone who governs
either through us, or in
spite of us. . . . It is God,
through the leading of
His Divine Providence,
who is still with us
in our churches, in
our homes, in our
communities, and
throughout our great
nation.
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