Prayer

Pastors are charged with the heavy responsibility of leading His people to experience God's saving grace. We must fervently defend God's word with strength and humility. Our burden is light because we are powerless. All the power in this world derives from God's love. I am moved to pray to truly know God's law. In Leviticus 20:22 God teaches us to obey his law. Every pastor has read the Bible's 12 passages with terms commonly identified with homosexuality. I pray we learn to love to learn the contextual truths of the Bible.

Pastors are charged with the heavy responsibility of leading His people to experience God's saving grace. We must fervently defend God's word with strength and humility. Our burden is light because we are powerless. All the power in this world derives from God's love. I am moved to pray to truly know God's law. In Leviticus 20:22 God teaches us to obey his law. Every pastor has read the Bible's 12 passages with terms commonly identified with homosexuality. I pray we learn to love to learn the contextual truths of the Bible.

As I ponder the state of our state and country I read a poem written years ago by Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881) and I ask that wee extend these words to God in heaven. Make this your prayer each day until God answers. May we look at our founding fathers faith and return to it. God, give us men! A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands; Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor; men who will not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue And damm his treacherous flatteries without winking!

A Carroll County commissioner has emailed an invitation to about 850 government employees to attend a monthly prayer session, which she will lead, raising concern among some residents and watchdog groups. Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier drafted the invitation and had a member of her staff send it May 3, to coincide with National Day of Prayer, a day on which the president traditionally calls on the nation to pray for peace and the country's welfare. Frazier's first "time for prayer" is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. June 7 in the basement of the County Office Building in Westminster.

It is imperative that people of faith speak up in support of a federal budget process that is true to the best moral traditions of our country. The federal budget is a document that reflects the values that we hold to be most important. Continuation of funding for programs that strengthen and enrich lives, support the most vulnerable among us, and serve the common good should be the foundation for decisions made in prioritizing budget choices. These are challenging financial times for our nation as Congress makes the difficult choices necessary to balance the concerns for reduction of a mounting debt with the financial commitment that a moral country must make to preserve the dignity and welfare of all people served by that government.

Baltimore principals' union president Jimmy Gittings recognizes that school prayer is unconstitutional but defends it anyway ("Prayers at city school before tests criticized," March 14). He blames the constitutional ban for a loss of respect for teachers and administrators over a 50 year period. There are many documented reasons for the problems of city schools, but Mr. Gittings adds a disregard for the rights of all students in order to advance a sectarian agenda. Prayer before tests may be common, but preparation and study should make it unnecessary.

As a 1960 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, I take grave exception to Talbot Manvel's op-ed page commentary on mealtime prayers at our military institutions ("Naval Academy tradition vs. Constitution," May 17). If he does not like to subject himself to the prayers, he is free to take a walk to another academic institution that has less respect for any sort of expression of feeling toward a Supreme Being. He could wear ear plugs to the mess hall, go into his muddled head, or simply tune out. No one is forcing him to stay at the Naval Academy.

A Carroll County commissioner has emailed an invitation to about 850 government employees to attend a monthly prayer session, which she will lead, raising concern among some residents and watchdog groups. Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier drafted the invitation and had a member of her staff send it May 3, to coincide with National Day of Prayer, a day on which the president traditionally calls on the nation to pray for peace and the country's welfare. Frazier's first "time for prayer" is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. June 7 in the basement of the County Office Building in Westminster.

February 11, 2000 was just another day in my second semester of my second year at Cardinal Gibbons High School. I was not a particularly good student, but I usually held my own (i.e., I usually passed my classes with 3-5 points to spare). A lack of a solid work ethic and maturity placed me right in the middle of the dozen or so honors students I sat with in Mr. Jauquet's religion class. Roughly thirty minutes into Mr. J's religion class is when the following announcement was made: "All students, faculty and staff are to remain in their current classroom or area until further notice."

WASHINGTON - Hi, God, it's me, the Rev. Pat Robertson. How's everything in heaven? Clear skies, warm sun and a gentle breeze, eh? Well, it's been raining cats and dogs here in Virginia. But I guess you already knew that, didn't you? Listen, God, the reason I'm calling: I'm sure you saw in the paper where I've asked the viewers of my TV show, The 700 Club, to join me in a "prayer offensive." You've probably heard from them already; they're more responsive than Pavlov's dogs. Little joke there, Lord.

The Sun's Tricia Bishop reports: Dante Parrish, a convicted killer who was freed from prison 20 years early with the help of the Innocence Project, was sentenced to life without parole Tuesday for brutally murdering a 15-year-old Baltimore boy in 2009, less than a year after his premature release. The brutal killing of Jason Mattison Jr., whose troubled life as a gay teenager drove him from house to house, only to take refuge in the very place he'd be killed as his heroin-laden aunt passed out, left the judge with a loss of words.

It is imperative that people of faith speak up in support of a federal budget process that is true to the best moral traditions of our country. The federal budget is a document that reflects the values that we hold to be most important. Continuation of funding for programs that strengthen and enrich lives, support the most vulnerable among us, and serve the common good should be the foundation for decisions made in prioritizing budget choices. These are challenging financial times for our nation as Congress makes the difficult choices necessary to balance the concerns for reduction of a mounting debt with the financial commitment that a moral country must make to preserve the dignity and welfare of all people served by that government.

When the delegate scheduled to give the customary prayer at the beginning of the House of Delegates' floor session Friday didn't show up in time, House Speaker Michael E. Busch filled in with one of the most succinct devotionals on record. It was particularly appropriate in a House chamber packed with purple-clad Ravens fans. "Give us the ability to go straight forward and do your will. Amen. " End of prayer.  

I read with interest Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's recent commentary on our appetite for more ("The problem of desire," Dec. 12). She rightly describes desire as "that shape-shifting seducer" which can never be satisfied. She also points out the positive aspects of desire as driving our ambition and our curiosity. Her essay showed the dilemma of desire: It can have a good form and a bad form. As a Christian Scientist, I have grappled with a proper view of desire, but have found answers in the words of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science.

"Students aren't allowed to pray any more!" "You can't even talk about God in public schools these days!" "They've even banned Christmas!" Such refrains, which resound regularly each year, are gross misconceptions perpetuated by alarmists who question America's First Amendment guarantees regarding religion's and prayer's place in public schools. The approach of major religious holidays is a wonderful opportunity to clarify what is religiously allowable within our public schools.

Theodore E. Thormann Jr., a popular longtime Calvert Hall College High School math teacher, died Nov. 23 of a heart attack at the Towson private school. He was 62 and a resident of Towson's Campus Hills neighborhood. Mr. Thormann, who had heart bypass surgery several years ago, regularly exercised and rode his bicycle. He often would return to school in the evening and work out in the gym or walk the halls for exercise. He went to Calvert Hall on the evening of Nov. 22, and when he did not return home, his wife of 17 years, the former Janice Flynn, a lawyer with the Public Service Commission, became alarmed and called Baltimore County police.

A crowd gathered quietly before the courthouse in downtown Bel Air on Thursday. While traffic traveled steadily along Main Street and many left their offices for various lunchtime destinations, this group spent the noon hour in prayer. "It is a privilege and honor to pray," said Dawn Massimini of Forest Hill. "I am so thankful that I have the freedom to pray publicly without fear of persecution. " The Harford County town, like thousands of communities across Maryland and the nation, marked the 60th annual National Day of Prayer with petitions for the country's welfare and words of gratitude for the freedom to worship openly.

Nick Conroy, an Eagle Scout candidate from Troop 109, is constructing a prayer garden at the Solid Rock Baptist Church on Hammonds Ferry Road as his Eagle project. The garden will be open to the public. The sophomore at Lansdowne High School started his project at age 14 after seeing other Scouts in his troop scramble to get their projects done before the deadline of their 18th birthday. He said he could have started his Eagle project sooner, but he postponed it to help older Scouts finish their projects before the deadline.