For the second straight year, the COVID-19 pandemic will keep area residents from gathering in public to mark the National Day of Prayer on Thursday.
That doesn’t mean local clergy won’t be leading an observance.
The Mount Airy Ministerial Association will be holding a National Day of Prayer service at 12:30 p.m., with the event carried live on WPAQ, at 740 AM and 106.7 FM on the radio dial.
“The theme this year will come from II Corinthians, chapter three, verse 17,” said DM Dalton, president of the ministerial association. That verse reads “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Dalton, who will serve as moderator for the radio broadcast, said that Dr. Rick Jackson will be delivering the message built around the theme “Lord, Pour Out Your Love, Life, and Liberty.”
In addition to the message, Dalton said he would read proclamations recognizing the day of prayer from both Mount Airy and Surry County officials.
Prior to the pandemic, the ministerial association sponsored a National Day of Prayer service on the front lawn of the city municipal building for years, and in 2019 had its first such service in front of the county courthouse in Dobson, something Dalton had hoped would be done annually going forward.
“It was graciously, graciously accepted by the county commissioners when I presented it to them,” he said of the first-time service in the county seat. While the crowd at the city service is typically between 20 and “upwards of 60” depending on the weather, he said the Dobson service drew quite a crowd that first year.
While the state and many organizations are loosening COVID-19 restrictions, Dalton said he wasn’t yet comfortable with doing the National Day of Prayer service in person.
“There are still a lot of churches … doing virtual services…it’s just more prudent, I think, to do it this way one more year,” Dalton said.
He’s hopeful the ministerial association will be able to return to the two live services in Mount Airy and Dobson in 2022.
For this year, he’s hopeful many people will tune in to the service.
“It’s critically important that we all, with the way this world is today, the cultural changes going on, we need to make sure we are continuing our prayer help,” he said. “We need to be praying for our leadership, we need to be praying for our country, we need to be praying for our state, we need to be praying for our community.”
Individuals wishing to listen live online can do so at https://www.wpaq740.com/listen-online/
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com