Weekly Column:   –  “Many families pray together before their evening meals, but how many of us pray at breakfast?

The National Prayer Breakfast is a unique event in Washington, DC.  While most of what happens in our capital falls along partisan lines, this event bridges political divisions along with religious, social and cultural divides.

This Thursday, February 5th, the National Prayer Breakfast again brought statesmen, academics, religious leaders and other guests from all over the world.  Three thousand visitors converged on Washington to cooperatively back a simple premise – a belief in the importance of prayer.

Throughout the week of the breakfast, American and foreign officials conducted meetings about much more than fellowship; we addressed some of the critical issues facing the 100-plus nations represented among the attendees.  Poverty, religious and political oppression, global economics and agriculture were just a few of the topics broached during the week.  Even the tension between Israel and Palestine is open for discussion among Jews and Muslims who attend the event.

The National Prayer Breakfast shatters the convention that the only people you can pray with are those who share your beliefs. 

If nothing else, the National Prayer Breakfast is an opportunity to fellowship with people who live lives of faith that you would not ordinarily encounter.  The humility of so many powerful leaders at the breakfast makes it a redeeming morning.  Across languages and beliefs, we are united by the fact of our faith in something greater than ourselves.

The same holds true in cities and towns across America.  We may be separated by political ideas, but we are united by the fact that we believe in something, even if what we believe is not the same.

I have been fortunate to chair the National Prayer Breakfast, in 2005, and I have remained involved with this event ever since. 

This year, I was been asked to read scripture at the National Prayer Breakfast, which I consider a great honor.  Unlike the reading at a church service, the scripture readings at the breakfast can last for several minutes – we can tell an entire religious story, taken from a text that the major religions of the world hold in common.  I’d given my reading much thought: it’s supposed to focus on the concept of reconciliation.

I settled on the story of Jacob and Esau.  The two brothers are divided over the matter of their inheritance, which Jacob takes for himself.  Years later, he requires the aid of his brother, and he penitently returns to Esau even though he fears Esau will kill him.  Although Jacob tries to buy his brother’s forgiveness, Esau tells Jacob to keep what he has.

As they reconcile, their new cohesion as a family holds a great insight for the many different people of the world.  The past is often a painful source of mistrust, but when tough times befall us the only way to truly heal the wounds of the past is to look to our Maker, to one another, and to the future.”