Solemn assemblies, such as the interdenominational, citywide one held in Bessemer last fall, have been arenas in which government has played a key role.
Several mayors and other government officials from municipalities in west Jefferson County attended the Bessemer assembly, which was the on the eve of the 2000 U.S. presidential election.
Betty Claire Paden, coordinator of the Bessemer citywide prayer breakfast, said that during the solemn assembly attendees prayed for the U.S. president, Congress, Alabama state leaders, local leaders and for racial harmony.
“The key thing is in obedience to the Scripture,” she said. “The Lord has commanded us to pray for them (government leaders).”
Paden said that an often-used verse of Scripture is 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Government leaders from the Bessemer area sit alongside ministers and join in prayer at Bessemer Carraway Hospital at 7:30 a.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, according to Paden. This is the 18th year for the prayer breakfast.
Phyllis Campbell, member of Liberty Ministry Church in Bessemer, and Birmingham resident, said several prayer walks grew from these breakfast meetings, in advance of the November 2000 solemn assembly.
These prayer walks led to government offices in Bessemer City Hall and four other west Jefferson County communities including Midfield, Fairfield, Lipscomb and Hueytown.
“We went to these municipalities and tried to talk with the mayors, finding out prayer needs and then had a time of prayer in the offices, courthouses or city halls,” Paden said.
“We all live in networks of power relationships. So we have no choice but to involve ourselves in the moral questions of politics,” writes Dennis McNutt, professor of history and political science at Vanguard University of Costa Mesa, Calif.
He cites a summary by theologian, author and 1964 Medal of Freedom recipient Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), who states, “Politics will, until the end of history, be an area where conscience and power meet, where the ethical and coercive factors of human life will interpenetrate and work out their tentative and uneasy compromises.”
McNutt continues, “If I am correct in saying that we all live in power relationships, and if Niebuhr is correct in saying that conscience and power meet in the politics, we have our task clearly before us: We must accept the burden of civilizing power with an informed Christian conscience.”
Thanks to the spiritual as well as jurisprudence insight of those entrusted with upholding the laws of Alabama and the United States, God’s plan for the behavior of mankind and the basis for the secular legal system are clear, many leaders point out.
First Timothy 2:1-2 speaks of the Christian’s stance regarding government.
The Scripture passage encourages Christians to pray for all leaders.
It states: “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone; for kings and all those in authority, that we may live in peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”
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