With Memorial Day almost upon us, sermons beckoning to patriotic themes and the sacrifice of men and women for their country are likely to be preached this weekend. Yet another call is stirring in various quarters: the need for repentance.
That issue got some national attention this week when a group of Christian leaders issued a request that churches cry out to God on our next patriotic holiday. That is, July 5. (Ironically, the U.S.’ birthday falls on the previous day, but with so many churches offering services on Saturday as well, maybe they should have said "the weekend of July 4.")
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., is spearheading the initiative, dubbed the Call2Fall.
"On July 4 we celebrate our independence, and it’s our desire on July 5 to declare our dependence upon God as a people and as a nation," Perkins said.
His goal is to see eight million Christians in 40,000 churches kneel in prayer for three to five minutes that day; he is urging pastors to register at the Call2Fall web site. The group got off to a good start. As of this morning, nearly 7,700 people and churches had signed up.
Two witnesses
One of the first verses of significance I learned as a born-again believer was 2 Corinthians 13:1: "Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses."
A pastor explained that when God is speaking, various people will get the same message, without each of them being aware of what the other has heard.
Ironically, that appears to be the case with this week’s announcement. A week prior to this past Tuesday’s press conference, a story I wrote for a newspaper in Kentucky appeared in print.
It chronicled a special service scheduled for June 14 in a rural area of the south central part of the state. Dubbed "If My People," it draws its inspiration from the same scripture cited by the Call2Fall organizers—2 Chronicles 7:14.
Several months earlier, the chairman of the deacons at a church in the town of Albany (population 2,300) felt led to urge members of his denomination in that area to hold repentance services that day.
Not only does he sense a general unrest among people and a concern for the nation, he hopes the observance will spread a new awareness of scripture.
"There are believers that don’t study God’s word as they should," he said. "Sometimes we take (that) for granted."
Repenting for our actions
This deacon made one other observation worth noting, that 2 Chronicles 7:14 applies to the Church, not the world.
After hearing numerous references to this verse over the years, I sometimes get the feeling many Christians think the verse starts, "If the world that needs to follow me" instead of "If my people, who are called by my name…"
Of course, someone is likely to ask about the essence of our repentance. Some will say we need to repent of the onslaught of abortion since 1973. Others will point to family disintegration, teen pregnancy and other social ills. And some will say we need to repent of materialism, torture in the pursuit of terrorists and racism.
No matter what one’s point of view, the Call2Fall makes a good point when it says the pathway back to God begins with humility, desperation for God’s face, a heart cry for his mercy, and a desire to turn from our sinful ways.
If the Church follows through on this form of repentance, even those outside our congregations will notice.
