The 15th Annual Canby Prayer Breakfast (formerly the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast) will be Thursday, May 2, coinciding with the National Day of Prayer.
The event will be held at 6:30 a.m. at Cutsforth’s Town Hall meeting space above Cutsforth’s Market. Honorary guest speakers will be Canby Mayor Brian Hodson and State Rep. Christine Drazan. Several Canby churches will be joining together to pray for our community and its leaders. Music will be led by Darlene Kenagy.
Come join your fellow Canbyites to pray this special day to support our civil servants and local leaders, as well as our armed forces. This year’s theme comes from John 13:34: “Love One Another.”
There is no cost to attend or enjoy the full breakfast, though donations will be accepted to benefit the Canby Center.
For further information about the national event, these comments are excerpted from President George W. Bush’s remarks at the 2005 National Day of Prayer:
The National Day of Prayer is an annual event established in 1952 by an Act of the United States Congress. Yet, this day is part of a broader tradition that reaches back to the beginnings of America. From the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, to the launch of the American Revolution, the men and women who founded this nation in freedom relied on prayer to protect and preserve it.
Today, prayer continues to play an important part in the personal lives of many Americans. Every day, millions of us turn to the Almighty in reverence and humility. Every day, our churches and synagogues and mosques and temples are filled with men and women who pray to our Maker. And almost every day, I am given a special reminder of this great generosity of spirit when someone comes up and says, Mr. President, I’m praying for you.
Prayer has been an important part of American public life, as well. Many of our forefathers came to these shores seeking the freedom to worship. The first Continental Congress began by asking the Almighty for the wisdom that would enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation. And when our Founders provided that sure foundation in the Declaration of Independence, they declared it a self-evident truth that our right to liberty comes from God.
And so we pray as a nation for three main reasons. We pray to give thanks for our freedom. Freedom is our birthright because the Creator wrote it into our common human nature. No government can ever take a gift from God away. And in our great country, among the freedoms we celebrate is the freedom to pray as you wish, or not at all. And when we offer thanks to our Creator for the gift of freedom, we acknowledge that it was meant for all men and women, and for all times.
