Thursday, March 28, 2024

The power of prayer

By Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson

When I first entered public life I promised God that prayer would be central to my activities and my service. I have always understood the value of taking issues and concerns to God. It was a lesson that I learned as a little girl from my own father who prayed before every meal, and requested that my siblings and I quote a scripture before we ate.

For the past eighteen years I have sponsored an annual prayer breakfast for members of the faith community in North Texas. This year the event was held on February 11th at the Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute at the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center.

Nearly 125 members of the ecumenical faith community attended as we fellowshipped and considered the theme: “The Cost of Humanity: Protecting and Providing for Society’s Vulnerable.”

Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the presiding prelate of the 10th Episcopal District for the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was our keynote speaker. Bishop McKenzie is also the first woman to be elected a Bishop in her denomination.

She spoke about the responsibility that people of faith have to build and restore their communities. She challenged those in attendance to serve people, and to create a better world for the young, the elderly and the infirmed.

She spoke about her own experiences as a new minister with a congregation of thirty-five people that challenged drug dealers and prostitutes who stood on street corners, and lived in a house near her church in Baltimore, Maryland.

Among the clergy that attended were Dr. Jerry L. Christian of Kirkwood Temple C.M.E., Pastor Jo Hudson of Cathedral of Hope, Reverend Rudy Garcia of  the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Rabbi Andrew Paley of  Temple Shalom,  Revathi Srinath of the DFW Hindu Temple and Reverend Claude Maples, the retired pastor of the Romine Christian Church. Reverend Maples also acted as our master of ceremonies.

I was blessed to make a special presentation to Bishop J. Neaul Haynes, the Pastor of the Saintsville Church of God In Christ who is also a member of the COGIC national board.

Bishop Haynes has been one of the prayers warriors whose presence in our community has truly been a gift from God. His daughter, Pia Williams, the Texas Jurisdictional Supervisor for the Department of Women in the Church of God In Christ, gave the benediction.

I have found prayer to be a valuable resource in my public and personal lives. It should be something that we do daily. It is crucial to our well-being and to the success of our communities.

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