Rolling Bandages

Coronavirus has all of us scrambling for masks and sanitizer to evade an evil we can't even see. But before delving into corona's effects on society, allow me a spiritual rabbit trail.

In a similar, albeit spiritual, sense, the prophet Jeremiah described the futility of our efforts to cleanse ourselves of a far more deadly (and often invisible) pathogen - sin.

To simplify this intense theological subject, let's consider the following scenario, cleverly presented at a church picnic by a guy with whom I used to worship. He used soda in his demonstration, but I'm tweaking his metaphor just a bit.

Break out the finest wine with the best vintage you can find. Uncork it, then spit into the bottle while your guests stand around watching. Will anyone want to drink it?

Of course not. It became defiled and corrupted the minute the first trickle of your saliva entered the bottle (even if you just had your teeth cleaned). This is how God sees us. The first time we sinned, we took ourselves out of the running for heaven.* We may "clean up nice" on the outside, but "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). God says, "'For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me" (Jeremiah 2:22).

Jesus's death on the cross was the only way to get us out of the mess created by our sinfulness. He was the perfect, ultimate sacrifice. His death paid for our sins once and for all - but we must place our faith in Him to have that payment applied to our account.

Let's bring our minds back to COVID-19 now. Herculean efforts of researchers and first responders notwithstanding, we will all die eventually. No one gets to stay permanently on this planet.

If we're relying on the fact that we are "good people," how can we be sure we're "good enough" for God to let us into heaven? How many good works does it take to tip the scales in our favor to be sure we make the cut?

Most of us think of ourselves as being fair. If the Bible is true (and there's lots of geographical, historical and archaeological evidence to prove that it is), we must accept its assertion that the God of the Bible is fair. Part of His fairness involves allowing people to choose their eternal destiny, as opposed to forcing them to accept His gift of salvation.

I would ask my reader, have YOU chosen salvation?

Many may be wondering where all this is going. Scary news - I'm not sure myself! I only know these are some of the truths I recently shared in a phone conversation with a dear friend.

Being housebound due to the pandemic, I feel a certain responsibility to tend the home front, in much the same way our predecessors did while dealing with strange and frightening times. The current situation brings to mind past wars and the Great Depression, when everyone did what they were capable of doing, from wherever they found themselves. With this in mind, I've been contacting lots of folks, checking on their well-being and trying to assist from a distance.

I'm not unique. Many are doing likewise, trying to "roll bandages," as it were, during this unsettling time.

The conversation to which I alluded previously was one vital way God showed me to "roll bandages." I had this person on the phone. A chance presented itself to share the gospel. I had nothing pressing to do, no prior commitments, no work schedule dictating my time. I snatched up the opportunity with both hands, and did what I could with it.

I don't think it's a stretch to characterize battling for souls as the ultimate form of bandage rolling. Medical interventions can and do save lives, but in an important sense, they only delay the inevitable. Spiritual interventions can affect a person's eternal destiny.

One important caveat. No one can roll bandages 24/7. Even the most dedicated professionals have to sleep sometime. All our routines have been disrupted and, as a society, we're still in the process of rolling out new ones to try to impose order on the chaos COVID-19 has brought us. It's necessary to give ourselves breathing room (social distance?) to navigate the new normal.

In short, we need to strike a balance between aiding our beleaguered nation's efforts to stem the results of a devastating virus, while still finding a semblance of normality in everyday life. That said, I would encourage each of us to consider...

"What am I doing to roll bandages at this time?"

*with appreciation to Gabe Forest for this compelling analogy

For more like this, check out: Rolling Bandages

National Day of Prayer 2020

Hello Readers! Below is a lengthy but worthwhile read I was asked to post on my blog. It concerns the 69th Annual National Day of Prayer, which will be occurring via virtual platforms May 7, 2020. The article contains information about how the day will be structured, and discusses ways people can become involved, either as planners or participants. Note: contact info is listed at the end of the article, in case anyone needs to "cut to the chase!"

Dig in, folks!

E-paper/Newspaper/Media Article: National Day of Prayer 2020 – Delaware County

 National Day of Prayer on May 7

A Virtual Celebration

“America: God Wants Our Attention!”

 By NDP Delco Task Force Members   nationaldayofprayerdelco@gmail.com

[Feel free to use the following article – in whole or in part, with or without attribution – for inclusion in print and on-line e-papers and media. All that matters to us is getting the word out.]

For the first time in nearly 70 years, the National Day of Prayer on May 7 will bring Americans together around computer screens and smartphones rather than flagpoles in parks and at courthouses. Delaware County’s annual observance, held in Media’s Rose Tree Park for the past 26 years, instead will be a Virtual Celebration moved to people’s homes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 The upcoming National Day of Prayer (NDP) in Delaware County will transition to digital platforms and other innovative venues where people will have multiple opportunities to partake of the festivities from the comfort of their own homes. There will be a daytime online program consisting of Spirit-filled praise and worship interspersed with powerful prayer. County residents will be able to join with viewers from around the globe as pastors and community leaders seek God’s blessing on our nation and world. This event will premiere on the local NDP website (www.NationalDayofPrayerDelco.com) and Facebook Page (@DelawareCountyNDP). For those without internet access, the NDP team intends to have the audio of the online event available via telephone. Other creative ways to connect people in prayer are in the works such as an interactive Prayer Call and Prayer Caravans where families in their vehicles travel together to different locations to pray. Final details will be posted on NDP’s Delco website and Facebook Page.

The Virtual Celebration will continue on the evening of May 7 as all attention will be directed to the National Observance live-streaming from 8-10 pm ET on the countrywide website (www.NationalDayofPrayer.org) and Facebook Live. The evening event will be broadcast on television (GodTV, Daystar and NLC) as well as radio (Moody Broadcasting and Bott Radio Network). Normally the celebration emanates from the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. but this year speakers and prayer leaders will participate remotely.

The 2020 NDP theme is “Pray God’s Glory Across The Earth” and it is based on the Scripture from Habakkuk 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” The annual event is organized by the NDP Task Force, based in Colorado Springs, whose mission is to mobilize unified public and personal prayer for America. NDP President Kathy Branzell offers this prayer in advance of the virtual happening: “Lord, we pray that this unprecedented time in our generation would be used to draw nearer to You and our families. Help us to use this time to rightly reset and prioritize our relationship with You and our family. Let us draw near to You in faith as our Father and our fortress. Deliver us from this disease we pray and let Your glory fill the earth as You respond to our prayers. Amen.”

Gabrielle Bruno of Newtown Square who is co-directing the Delaware County celebration with her mother Patti finds the theme this year intriguing. “When the theme was chosen in the fall of 2019, no one knew what our world would be facing with the coronavirus pandemic. Amazingly, this is the first year that the theme verse happens to include "earth" as opposed to a verse singularly addressing one nation, our nation – America,” said Bruno. She continued, “Again, no one knew when this was chosen what we would be facing. Yet, here we are in April of 2020 having to pray for the world, in its entirety, now more than ever before. Only God could set that up.”

Patti Bruno agrees with her daughter’s assessment of the two-fold uniqueness of the approaching day. “It is virtual and it is to pray for the world, not just our nation!” Patti shared what she describes as a string of “amazing God-incidences” since, as she believes, “there are no coincidences with God.” She had major surgery in December, has been quarantined at home with health issues for months before the world outbreak, and then her daughter returned from California to help with her recovery. And, providentially, to help plan the unexpected cyberspace format of the prayer event. “Becoming virtual and dealing with all of the social media is extremely challenging for me. But praise the Lord! Thank God my daughter Gabrielle was here with me this year. In all honesty, she did it all and she’s the reason that we are even having anything for Delaware County this year.” According to Bruno, there was never any thought that this year’s NDP event would be cancelled due to the pandemic. Now that the Virtual Celebration is developing into a success story, she sees that high-tech challenge has been transformed into high-tech blessing: “I am so excited about what God is doing through social media and technology. We are taking Delaware County’s National Day of Prayer, along with the National Observance, out to anyone who has a love for the Lord and for our country. We are giving everyone an opportunity to pray and to have their prayer heard throughout the world online!!”

Springfield resident Evelyn Wright founded the Delaware County NDP event in 1994 with her late husband Bob. “Evie,” as the Springfield Baptist Church member is known, finds a bit of humor in this year’s altered observance. “We have had the National Day of Prayer Celebration at Rose Tree Park on the first Thursday of May for 26 years. Each year our planning committee would gather and spend an hour on Wednesday walking and praying around the whole area near the large American Flag. We prayed for the “Day” and we prayed for the weather. We never had to cancel the Program because we never had rain for 26 years.” Wright then dryly adds, “This year we won’t have to be concerned about the weather!”

Local gatherings of the NDP in every state are united by praying for seven key areas: family, church, education, media, government, business and military. The Delco Task Force typically adds three themes: prayer for the “Peace of Jerusalem,” for first responders (like police, firefighters and EMTs), and for revival and spiritual awakening in America. David Buffum of Congregation Beth Yeshua in Media explains the extra international focus: “I have been opening the Day of Prayer for the past 15 years by blowing the shofar to call God’s people together for worship and prayer, and sometimes I also pray for the peace of Jerusalem as God commands in Psalm 122. What God reveals, from Genesis to Revelation, is that for Him Israel is the center of the earth, and Jerusalem is the heart of Israel. As goes the peace of Jerusalem, so goes the peace of the world. So we pray for the shalom of the City of Peace.” Patti Bruno says this year first responders will also include medical personnel and essential workers because these frontline stalwarts especially need God’s protection as they confront COVID-19.

The Delco Task Force began meeting in the fall of 2019 to plan the 2020 event. The committee consists of nearly 40 people from 20 different churches of varied denominations. The group planned and prayed together monthly until March when the pandemic forced a restructure of the Day of Prayer as well as weekly conference calls instead of physical gatherings. “I love the heart and spirit of the great team that has formed. There is a strong sense of loving one another as Jesus asked us to do which comes through on our phone calls,” relates Patti Bruno. “Our times are very uplifting, strengthening and unifying. Everyone is loving the prayer time, so we have decided to keep up our prayer calls even after the National Day of Prayer.” Gabrielle Bruno adds that there are about 300 churches in Delaware County and she would love for all of them to join in and be represented. “If any church or person wants to get more involved, they should contact us at nationaldayofprayerdelco@gmail.com.”

Members of the NDP Delaware County Task Force are all volunteers who have participated in the annual celebration as planners, speakers or prayer leaders. Many also volunteered to be interviewed for this article and share their insights about the unprecedented 2020 version of the NDP. Jodean Duarte, a worship leader at Manoa Community Church in Havertown, made the following observation about a revamped approach to the day: “With everything going on right now more and more people are turning to prayer. Whether it is people who already enjoy regular prayer with the Lord or someone who has never prayed before, uniting our hearts to pray and seek God is more important than ever. I feel like this year’s event will be momentous! The virtual platform may actually make it even more accessible for people to participate. I’m excited to see what God will do that day!”

Duarte often joins her friend Lara Silvis on prayer walks throughout their Drexel Hill neighborhood.  Prayerwalking, a practice of many local church members, combines two common human abilities: walking and talking with God. Silvis explains that prayer for her and others is a daily activity, not one reserved for a special day once a year: “We can pray anytime as we walk along. The Lord loves to hear our prayers. He desires a relationship with us and wants to hear from each person. We pray for our community, our friends, our family and if we have faith in God, He will answer our prayers. While we are physically separated, prayer knows no distance and our Father in Heaven hears us no matter from where we pray.”

The mother-daughter duo of Patti and Gabrielle Bruno echo Silvis’ sentiment, pointing out that another purpose of the NDP is to encourage more prayer year-round in America. To achieve this end there are both daily and nightly call-ins for prayer available for everyone nationwide. One person who has been a Delco Task Force member for over seven years recounts a profound personal experience on the national call-in line. E. Trotter, member of the prayer committee at Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Thornton, describes her encounter: “I was so overcome by the Holy Spirit’s work when I went on the first time as I prayed with total strangers from across the country. The precious, beautiful unity of His Spirit was beyond words.” Phone and access code numbers for the nationwide daily prayer call-ins are at the www.nationaldayofprayer.org/prayer_calls web address. Times to call for “Prayer for America” on the first Thursday of every month are also listed.

Childhood friends Roseann Gavarone of Havertown and Marilyn Harvey of Drexel Hill have a lot in common besides volunteering to help with the prayer and phone ministries of the 2020 Day of Prayer.  Both grew up as neighbors on the same street in Philadelphia, raised their children there as well, and then retired from careers in health care. They also share optimism about this year’s event despite the virtual format. “I believe that the Lord will be moving more powerfully than He ever has. Because the schools are closed for the remainder of the school year, the youth of the church will be able to join in where they were not able to do so in the past,” notes Gavorone, who worships at Bread of Life Church in Upper Darby. Harvey, a member of St. Dorothy’s Roman Catholic Church in Havertown, says this feeling resonates with her as well: “This different venue might be a blessing in disguise as it has opened a virtual gathering that will provide internet and phone access to a multitude of people allowing them to join in as they wish during the daytime and evening.”

After Gabrielle Bruno graduated from Villanova in 2014, she moved to California to begin work in the entertainment industry. Because her job was bi-coastal, she shuttled between LA and New York and was able to assist her mother Patti with the Day of Prayer for the last five years. During this period she was not only mentored by her mom and Evie Wright but also Mary Campbell, the founder of the NDP tradition in Philadelphia since 1993. Through her training, Gabrielle’s heart caught on fire to help the NDP fulfill its mission to mobilize unified public prayer for America. Bruno is convinced this realization will continue despite the pandemic. “Mobilizing signifies that prayer doesn’t just happen in a church building. Prayer happens everywhere. Now, everyone is really learning this first-hand as they are locked in their homes and kept out of church buildings because of a global crisis,” she says. Bruno thinks the goal of unity will also be met: “The Christian church can stand divided by denominations. But on the first Thursday of May the world sees Christians of all backgrounds coming together to cry out to God,” even if it is a virtual gathering.

There is also the hope, according to Gabrielle, that social distancing will highlight another dimension of “public” that is centered on togetherness of belief and spirit, not only assembly. “We are very blessed in the United States of America to have religious freedom. Being able to celebrate Jesus together and pray to Him in public is important so that others can see and join in. This year's virtual event will still be public. The Internet certainly is public.” For the foreseeable future, however, it appears Bruno will be stepping back from her role here in Delco. She will be starting law school in the fall as a Dean’s Fellow at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

There are inevitable questions that emerge when there is a highly-publicized Day of Prayer and a deadly disease is ravaging the earth. Where is God in all this? Why is He allowing this plague? Answers to such an inquiry are varied and complex. Words seldom suffice and space usually runs out. But participants in the National Day of Prayer are not shy about confronting the questions head on. Rev. Stefan Bomberger of Havertown weighs in: “Natural evil occurs in a fallen world. People can be evil and they have free will. We do not know specifically and with certainty what God allows and what He does not. But we know we need to respond and seek the Lord in times of pestilence and plague.”  The pastor of Manoa Community Church continues: “We cannot trust humanity to fix this; it is beyond our power. Whether our prayers will stop this pandemic, only God knows. That doesn’t stop us from calling out and asking Him to stop it. This coronavirus is outside of our control. That’s what prayer acknowledges. We believe that God does interact with His creation so we pray that He will supernaturally intervene.”

Local pastors and spiritual leaders have theological and philosophical answers to questions about human suffering but they also can approach the coronavirus crisis with an emphasis on the personal.  Evangelist Alex Morton of Firebrand Church in Broomall puts the focus on the micro rather than the macro level in answering the question, Where is God in the midst of this pandemic? “God is right where He's always been, knocking at your heart's door. He's been pursuing you; you need only to let Him inside. God is using this moment in time to bring families together. He's using this season to bring those who don't know Him into relationship with His Son Jesus. He's using this to awaken His Church! He's using this to expose the things we've turned toward for security to prove them useless. God can take what is intended by forces of wickedness to harm and turn it around for good. That’s what Jesus tells us in Scripture: ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).”

Whatever people’s religious persuasions, there is evidence from every corner of the United States that increased amounts of citizens are turning to prayer, Bible study and other spiritual exercises since the onset of the global coronavirus crisis.  A recent Pew Research Center poll found that more than half of Americans have prayed for an end to the pandemic. More than one third of Americans who believe in God say they have grown closer to God in recent weeks. Google searches for “prayer” skyrocketed worldwide since the surge in COVID-19 cases. Another example of religious fervor comes from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Twitter mentions are up 2,783% and Facebook followers increased 172% by late March. One annual participant in the Delco NDP shared this anecdote: “I am in an on-line prayer and Bible study group of 18 that has four nurses in it, from Lankenau, CHOP, Bryn Mawr and Dupont. I have been praying with them and for them like crazy for strength, protection and wisdom. We met in person since the fall but had to transition to Google Meet in March and April. Prior to our cyberspace prayer, I only knew one of them was a nurse. Prayer for this thing has increased prayer for everything as well as deepened sharing.”

Last year’s NDP had nearly 60,000 prayer events stretching from the East Coast to Hawaii and attended by millions of people in towns, cities and counties across America. The National Observance broadcast from the United States Capitol had 1.4 million views.  Growth in terms of event numbers, viewership and participation is expected to be exponential due to the nation’s home-bound population and the danger confronting the world.

An Annual National Day of Prayer was established in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress signed by President Truman. In 1988, that law was amended and signed by President Reagan setting the day as the first Thursday in May. This year’s celebration on May 7 marks the 69^th annual NDP.

Modern observance of the NDP was preceded by calls for such a Day before the United States was founded. The first Continental Congress invoked a national day of prayer in 1775. Since that time there have been at least 1,526 state and federal calls for national prayer, including 146 by Presidents of the United States. President Lincoln in 1863 gave the following rationale in his Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer: “It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”

President Lincoln’s remarks regarding the importance of national prayer and humility resonate deeply with Patti and Gabrielle Bruno and the rest of the NDP Delco Task Force. Gabrielle observes that Lincoln’s proclamation clearly references the Scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14: “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.” Gabrielle suggests that we should uphold the tradition of our founding fathers by practicing the discipline of prayer as they did with passion, authenticity and dedication, especially during the current plague of COVID-19. Patti enthusiastically concludes, “Prayer is everything! God wants to hear us. He has said in James 4:8 that if we draw closer to Him then He will draw near to us. My real desire is to bring a smile to the Face of God. This is why I do the National Day of Prayer each year. It is my great honor and privilege to serve the Lord by putting this day together. I hope that through this event people will create a relationship with the Lord and change the way they live, and our world will be a better place. My greatest vision is to imagine God looking down and seeing so many of His children gathered together, out in the open, on a Thursday, an otherwise ordinary day in the middle of the week, calling out to Him, repenting of how we behave, and just telling Him that we love Him and want Him here with us. That is my heart and my hope for The National Day of Prayer in Delaware County.”

The National Day of Prayer is founded upon the Constitutional rights of freedom of religion and freedom of speech and can be celebrated by all Americans. In 1988 the NDP Task Force was founded as an independent, religious 501(c)(3) nonprofit to organize and promote the Christian expression of the National Day of Prayer. All sponsored events are nonpolitical and nonpartisan. As the NDP Task Force has chosen to conduct prayer events consistent with its Biblical faith and life, it supports the First Amendment rights of all Americans to observe the Day in manner that reflects their religious perspectives.

Questions may be referred to the following people:

Gabrielle Bruno   Co-Director, NDP Delco Task Force   610.505.4007   gbruno02@villanova.edu

Patti Bruno          Co-Director, NDP Delco Task Force   610.416.8336   pattibruno@aol.com

David Buffum     Planning/PR NDP Delco Task Force   610.207.5534   davidbuffum7@gmail.com

 Local Website:            www.NationalDayofPrayerDelco.com

National Website:       www.NationalDayofPrayer.org

Local Facebook:         www.facebook.com/DelawareCountyNDP