If my people … PRAY

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Wesley Wright
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Minot AFB will host a National Prayer Luncheon at the Jimmy Doolittle Center here Feb. 12.

The theme of this year's National Prayer Luncheon is, "If my people Pray." The message will be delivered by Chaplain (Brig. Gen.) David H. Cyr, Air Force Deputy Chief of Chaplains, Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C.

The importance of the NPL was noted by Warbird One.

"I believe it is important because it signifies the importance and power of many faiths coming together in unity and the recognition that we are not in this alone," said Col. Joel Westa, 5th Bomb Wing commander.

[Editor's note: This event is a prayer "breakfast" but will be considered a prayer "luncheon" for logistical reasons.]

Congressional "prayer breakfasts," in their present form, date back to World War II. In 1942, Senators met in private on Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. in the Capitol's Vandenberg room to pray for the nation. Representatives started their prayer meetings in 1943. They gather now for prayer on Thursday mornings.

Initially, prayer breakfasts started as an opportunity for members of Congress to get together and pray. Later, the idea of getting together for prayer spread from city to city, from state to state and from country to country.

According to Capt. Daniel Bucur, a chaplain from the 5th BW, the NPL has significant meaning to military personnel.

"We celebrate National Prayer Luncheon to allow for military personnel of all ranks and religions to assemble and pray for our country," Chaplain Bucur said. "For us in the military, it signifies the commitment of military personnel to come together as one, regardless of their religious conviction, and pray for our country's leadership and for our country."

Since the inauguration of the National Prayer Breakfast in 1952, the idea of men and women in positions of responsibility meeting together privately and without publicity has spread across many continents.

For the past 30 years, military men and women have been holding their own local prayer breakfasts and luncheons in conjunction with the National Prayer Breakfast.

According to event organizers, the prayer breakfast was never designed as just an annual high point in experience, but rather, as a beginning of what would happen privately and in small leadership groups on a regular basis among all citizens, military and civilian.

For people unable to attend the luncheon, Chaplain Bucur had some suggestions.

"People can, individually or in group, pray for the stability of the U.S., pray for wisdom in decisions for our national and local leaders and pray for safety for our deployed troops and their families."

For more information on the prayer luncheon, contact 723-1383.