Historical Markers: Bold Prayer

There’s an old tale about a political debate, and the discussion turns to faith, and one candidate turns to the other and says “I bet you don’t even know the Lord’s Prayer.”

“Of course I do!” his opponent replied.

“I will give you five dollars if you can recite it right now.”

“You’re on.”

“”Okay, let’s hear it.”

Then the opponent boldly prayed…”Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep…”

The audience was stunned, and the candidate walked over to him…

“Here’s your five dollars. I’m surprised you actually knew it.”

Today the disciples gathered with Jesus and asked him how they should pray.

“When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Every Sunday, I ask us all to pray this prayer…“as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say…”

When we pray, we boldly proclaim that God has been, is, and always will be working in and through us.

When we say “Father,” we boldly proclaim that we are children of God. 

When we say “Your Kingdom come,” we boldly proclaim that we are signing up for our role in bringing about the Kingdom of our Father.

When we say “Give us each day our daily bread,” we boldly proclaim that our life, our existence, our very being, is sustained by our Father.

When we say “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive…,” we boldly proclaim that sin and brokenness and pride and shame won’t keep us separated from God, or from each other.

When we say “do not bring us to the time of trial,” we are boldly proclaiming that we follow God, and that evil never has the last word.

When we pray, we boldly proclaim that God has been, is, and always will be working in and through us.

Today’s historical marker is from Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church. Established in 1864, it’s the oldest African American Church in Dallas County.

A white circuit preacher and a few enslaved people gathered on the third Sunday in June, 1864 under an elm tree in the White Rock settlement.

Mount Pisgah’s historical marker notes that the founders…including John Huffman, Dan Howard, Sam Fowler, William Phifer, Tobe Howard and Jack Saunders…held church services despite their enslavement.

When those men gathered, they boldly proclaimed that their enslavement wasn’t the true story.

Despite their enslavement, they gathered to pray.

Despite their enslavement, they boldly proclaimed that their sufferings were temporary.

Despite their enslavement, they boldly proclaimed that God had been, was, and always will be working in and through them.

This historical marker notes that the group first met in June 1864. I dug a little deeper, and discovered that they met on the third Sunday in June that year.

June 19, 1864.

Exactly one year later, on Juneteenth 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston and General Granger read General Order Number 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

When these young men gathered at Mount Pisgah in 1864, they could have never imagined how their lives would be different one year later.

Despite their enslavement, they gathered.

Despite their enslavement, they prayed boldly.

God was already working in and through them.

God had always been working in and through them.

Our historical marker this week is BOLD PRAYER.

Followers of Jesus are marked by bold prayer.

Despite our enslavement to sin and brokenness and pride and shame, we pray boldly.

Our circumstances don’t always change when we pray.

But we change.

Our hearts and our minds change, as we boldly proclaim that God has been, is, and always will be working in and through us.

For those men at Mount Pisgah, they gathered in 1864 even as they experienced some of the worst conditions a human being can experience.

They probably didn’t know that more than a year earlier President Lincoln had already delivered the Emancipation Proclamation.

They couldn’t have known that on the exact day they met, a Union battleship destroyed a Confederate ship all the way over in France.

They couldn’t have known that exactly one year later their earthly freedom would finally be proclaimed in Galveston.

And they couldn’t have known that what they started and prayed for that June day would still stand today.

But still they prayed. Boldly.

The rest of Mount Pisgah’s historical markers reads,

After slavery was abolished, Freedmen bought land, built homes and established churches and schools. Mount Pisgah’s membership grew and congregants traveled up to five miles to attend services. 

Then it talks about the growth, and new buildings, and continued service today…

Through partnerships with community and worldwide groups, Mount Pisgah has helped others by providing scholarships, services to homeless populations, school supplies, assistance to food banks and funding for a water well in Ghana. Located on South Sherman Street in Richardson, Mount Pisgah continues to grow while it supports and influences its community and lands abroad through its faith.

The founders held church services despite their enslavement, and they prayed boldly.

They boldly prayed that God has been, is, and always will be working in and through what started under an elm tree in Dallas that third Sunday in June, 1864.

And 52 years ago, a few families gathered and boldly prayed that God has been, is, and always will be working in and through this little part of northeast Tarrant County.

And today, despite our circumstances…despite our doubts…despite our fears…we boldly pray that God has been, is, and always will be working in and through us.

Amen