By Debby Woodin
Globe Staff Writer
WEBB CITY, Mo. - American flags flapped in the breeze Thursday at King Jack Park as about four dozen people clasped hands in circles of prayer.
They prayed for unity. They prayed for guidance for national and local governmental leaders. And, they prayed for continued religious freedom and Christian reform.
Similar prayers echoed throughout area towns at breakfast meetings and ceremonies in observance of the National Day of Prayer. This is the 54th year that the observance, established by an act of Congress, has folded the hands of participants on the first Thursday in May.
"I'm all for this program," said Betty Lamb, of Webb City. "I think it's needful. I think unless we turn and hold up prayer before the Lord, our nation is in peril."
Webb Citians have an appropriate site for the ceremony: at the foot of a hill where the Praying Hands statue was erected 34 years ago. The creator of the sculpture, Jack Dawson, and his wife, Nancy, were speakers at Thursday's event.
"It's not a political statement but a spiritual one," Dawson said of the statue. He said the folded hands that stand along Missouri Highway 171 represent a silent reminder every day that "humility before a living God is where we find that spiritual peace."
The United States was founded on of a number of precepts that include the right to religious freedom. The Founding Fathers relied on Christianity to underpin the nation they created, Dawson said. He quoted George Washington as having said, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."
Stan Parkison, president of the Webb City Ministerial Alliance and pastor of the First Christian Church, said the purpose of the observance is "so that we, as people of faith, can come together and offer prayers about concerns about our country, and ask for God's mercies, blessings and guidance."
Asked about some criticism of the event as being one that does not include religions other than Christianity, Parkison said it is an observance devoted to those who believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God and redeemer.
Parkison said the program was planned to include recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, including the words "one nation under God."
The observance is planned by the National Day of Prayer Task Force. On its Web site, the task force is described as a nonprofit organization that is limited to Judeo-Christian heritage.
"If peoples of other faith wish to celebrate in their own tradition, they are welcome to do so," the Web site reads in part.
Though mayors' breakfasts traditionally are staged so that prayers can be offered on behalf of those who serve in elected office, the observance is not a function of government, according to the Web site, "and, therefore, a particular expression of it can be defined by those who choose to organize it. This is not a church/state issue."
Peter Lanyon, a retired farmer from Webb City and a veteran of World War II, said he attended the ceremony because "I believe our nation needs prayer. I believe our nation needs to return back to God. And I believe our leaders need our prayers."
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