National Day of Prayer

Okay so I was listening to Focus on the Family last night and heard something that made me go hmmmm. The National Day of Prayer happened back in April and from what I heard, apparently they sponsor a Nascar car. I look on the interweb and sure enough:

dop%20nascar.jpg

That didn’t strike me as too silly, a little maybe, but not awful. What really got me though was hearing Mrs. Dobson say that she was praying for it to qualify. Now that sort of thing isn’t unheard of. Folks pray for their favorite teams all the time. I think that’s a pretty Western/American Christian phenomena, but common enough. Still I have to ask why? Did ancient Christians pray for their favorite charioteer? I doubt it. We are to pray without ceasing, pray for our daily needs, pray in thanksgiving, but what drives us to pray for things like this? Are their things we “shouldn’t” pray for?

And I’ll close this entry with one other thing. The organizers of the NDoP had planes flying over all fifty states with people in those planes praying for the state they were flying over. Can’t you pray from the ground? What about the resources that were eaten up by that? Couldn’t that money have been better spent on feeding/clothing the poor? Okay I go lay down now.

  • http://sidfaiwu.com/blog sidfaiwu

    I’m sure some of the ancient Christians prayed for the prey at certain distasteful Colosseum events. Speaking of which, think of the unintentional irony of a Detroit football fan praying for a victory for the Lions.

    Even from a non-religious perspective, praying for race cars and sports teams seems shallow. We understand that prayer is a very serious thing to the ones praying (prayors?). Praying for a sports car is like scientifically researching potato chips. It also makes religion look like a hobby and not a lifestyle.

    As for the NDoP people praying in planes, it brings to mind the hypocrites warned about in Matthew 6:5. Considering that the Christian concept of God is that He can both communicate and act at a distance, the locality of prayer is irrelevant. These people are praying to be seen praying.

  • http://tobycentral.blogspot.com Toby

    That this is a private group (even one as heinous as FotF), doesn’t bother me. They can pray for whatever they want and it has no effect on how I go about my daily life.

    My issue is with the adoption of the NDoP by Congress in 1952 (around the same time of the addition of “In God We Trust” on the money and “under God” in the Pledge). Our government has no place declaring religious holidays, no matter how mundane they may seem.

    As far as the planes go, my best guess is that they are counting on the added pollution put off by the planes to hasten Armageddon.

  • Ben

    God and sports is INFINITELY entertaining. That’s actually pretty good grist for a book on the historical context of such.

    Also, this seems to be a protestant thing as I’ve never heard a priest do this in my entire life. Although, I’m sure they were just too busy praying for an acquittal.

  • http://rhodester.net RhodesTer

    Yeah, well.. that’s the Christian church in America.. shallow and self-centered as can be, but in denial of it.
    I’m so glad I never gave money to these National Day of Prayer people, so that they can pay for an ad on a racecar.
    I’m laying down too.. I’m nauseous.

  • Scott

    Good thoughts all, guys.

  • Kansas Bob

    Maybe I should start praying for the KC Royals.. they are really stinking it up these days.. then again I’d really have to believe in miracles :)

  • Scott

    It can’t hurt.

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