Praying for an end to the government shutdown

An interesting detail opens this afternoon’s report by The New York Times: 

Vice President Mike Pence insisted on beginning the first meeting with a prayer, so the chief of staff to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, asked God to “to bring us together” when negotiators met Saturday in Mr. Pence’s ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

The next day, Democrats began with their own prayer — read by a member of Senator Richard J. Durbin’s staff — that noted that Jesus and Mary were both refugees.

The two disparate prayers underscored the stalemate that lawmakers find themselves in as the shutdown drags into its third week: The two sides could not even agree on a pro forma invocation.

Politicians aren’t the only ones praying: 

A local church is calling for prayer and action during the partial government shutdown.

Members of Liberty Road Seventh Adventist Church in Baltimore County gathered for a special service Saturday.

Some members of the congregation signed a written promise to contact President Trump and ask him to help end the government shutdown, as well as pray Congress may come to an agreement.

And there’s this, from New Year’s Eve:

Watch Night services are a religious tradition for people of many faiths dating back centuries. But this week, whether it was New Year’s Eve or Jan. 1, clergy and faith leaders dedicated extra time for services and prayer for federal workers caught in the crossfire between President Donald Trump and Congressional Democrats.

Rev. Henry P. Davis, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park, said that his Landover congregation started holding special prayers the Sunday after the shutdown because about 25 percent of his 3,500 members work for the federal government.

“We are trying to give people hope and to put our trust in God and not man,” Davis said. “This is a challenging time. We ask people affected by the shutdown to come forward for prayer and I think that was an eye-opening experience for our church.”

Rev. Ianther Mills, pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Northwest, said that her congregation’s New Year’s service featured three ministers that focused on the past, present and the future of the congregation and issues that people are dealing with at this time.

“I am speaking about forgiveness and serving a God who knows us by our name,” Mills said. “We are praying for reconciliation and a way forward in this time and in our political climate because what is happening to folks economically.”