America Must Pray
By Dr. Mal Couch
Public prayer, spiritual publications of poems and music, have always been a part of America, until recently. There are forces now trying to silence the Christian spiritual heritage of open and free expression to our God that made this nation great.
Each week I’ll add some historical tidbits as how Christian expression and public prayer was a vital part of our nation’s blessing. We may not fully know of the spiritual state of all the men we examine, but we do know none of them were fearful of prayers to the God of the Bible in the public setting.
If you are a pastor or Sunday school teacher, please print off these little bits of our history and share them with others.
Helen Jackson
Helen Jackson was a neighbor of the agnostic Emily Dickinson. Helen, along with other women in the post-Civil War era. was a champion of ensuring that children were properly taught to turn to God in prayer. By the end of the nineteen century that cry became louder and louder. Mrs. Jackson pushed forward this idea.
Jackson wrote during this period one of the most heartrending prayers of that day. The prayer, entitled "A Last Prayer," penned at the end of her life, expressed and bemoaned the fact that during her lifetime she should have done more for the Lord than she did. The prayer, published far and wide, was based somewhat on the Beatitudes.
Father, I scarcely dare to pray,
So clear I see, now it is done,
How I have wasted half my day,
And left my work but just begun.
So clear I see that things I thought
Were right or harmless, were instead a sin
So clear I see that I have sought,
Unconscious, selfish aims to win;
So clear I see that I have hurt
The souls I might have helped to save,
That I have slothful been, inert,
Deaf to the cries the wandering lost gave.
This prayer was often read from pulpits across America. Later while living in Colorado Springs she wrote a book entitled Ramona. The book pointed out the spiritually lost condition of American Indians.