Acknowledging God's Authority

Listen to the words of Hebrews 1:
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

We are created by God, and we are under His authority.   As we live under that authority, we recognize that He is the author of life, the Creator who formed us, and we treat other people as those who are fearfully and wonderfully made.   We respond to other people under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  And, we live each day with an awareness of His presence and yield ourselves to His direction.

The apostle Paul spoke these words about the supremacy of God in Acts chapter 17:
24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things... 28 ...in Him we live and move and have our being

Two incidents in a city in New York highlight the importance of prayer, a consciousness of God, and submission to His authority.   These two incidents are not at all directly related, but taken together paint a powerful example.

The first: The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled last month that the Town of Greece violated the Establishment Clause through a prayer practice that it says “identified the town with Christianity.”

According to WHAM Television, the decision reversed a previous ruling in a lower court that sided with Greece.   Apparently, between 1999 until 2007 only Christians stood up before board meetings to give a prayer, many of which invoked the name of Jesus Christ.

The court declared, “the town neither publicly solicited volunteers to deliver invocations nor informed members of the general public that volunteers would be considered or accepted.”

The court said that prayers are allowed at legislative meetings, but deemed Greece’s policy amounted to a promotion of one religion.

So, we have another instance where certian types of prayers are being regulated or restricted.

Now, to the second:  Greece is the hometown of Karen Klein - she is a 68-year-old bus monitor who endured an extended barrage of insults from a group of middle school students.   The occurrence was posted on YouTube, and a rally was held in the town to show support for Ms. Klein.  

So, here's the connection:  we have people that want to restrict prayer in America, and as William Murray, the son of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, will highlight today, there are those that would want to remove symbols or reminders of God's authority in public life.  Those individuals, and well-funded groups, want the government to dictate who should pray, where prayers should be held - shielded from the public, and what the content should be, if a prayer is even to be said.   In that scenario, government becomes the authority, not the God who established that authority.

And, without the authority of God, the respect for life that is created by God is diminished, the American values of civility and respect for one another are trampled, and we begin to treat others in a cruel and harmful ways.   Isn't it interesting that in the same city where there are people who want to restrict prayer that national attention is focused on actions that are indicative of a society that doesn't have it?