Church prays for Donald Trump
Adventist congregation seeks God’s intervention to bring healing to the nation
The plea was simple. “Since you’ve been elected, try to live up to the office you’ve been elected to,” an attendee at Saturday morning’s service at Windsor Mill’s Liberty Seventh-day Adventist Church had written on a card for Donald Trump. “God has eyes on you.”
Some 200 people gathered at the Baltimore County church for its Saturday service. In an entrance hall outside, activist Rocky Twyman, 66, was hoping many would take the time to add their names to the card, as a sign that they were hoping for the best from the president-elect.
“If we ask God to help us, we believe that some powerful things can happen,” said Twyman. “We just really have to be hopeful.”
Among those happy to sign was Olufolake Koleowo, 55, who lives in Northwest Baltimore. “Why not?” she asked. “God has called us to pray for our president. I think it is a very good and noble thing to do.”
Did she think prayer might quell some of the tensions that have surfaced since Tuesday’s election. “Maybe so,” Koleowo said. “God has a way of talking to people.”
Outside the church building, Twyman, who grew up in Georgia and says he has long been active in the struggle for civil rights, said he sees prayer services like this as an alternative to the protests and unrest that have roiled parts of the nation.
“We’re asking people to get off of the streets, and let’s ask God for help,” he said. “We just think that human efforts have failed, Donald Trump has won the election, and now we need to turn to a higher power for help . ... It’s time to end all of the fighting and fussing and bashing, and really get down to the business of healing the wounds of the nation.”
Back in the church, Pastor Mark A. McCleary delivered a sermon that did not dwell on the election, but clearly referred to it. He spoke on the importance of choices, and on accepting responsibility for what those choices mean. “God doesn’t opt out of opportunities to choose,” he said. Sitting in his office after the service, McCleary reflected on the importance of having faith that things can work out. “Right now, based on his remarks after his acceptance, he sounds good. I mean, that’s all I want anybody to say — we want to build bridges, we want to unify the people. So I’ve got to help him do that.”
Still, he acknowledged that Trump’s rhetoric has done a lot of damage and left many people apprehensive.
“I’ve got my eyes and my ears open,” the pastor said. “Based on some of the statements he made, you’ve got to be a little bit leery when you talk about putting up a wall, you talk about putting people out of the country, when you’re making fun of disabled people. Those kind of things talk to a lot of people’s sensitivities.”
As people left, many did not notice the oversized card, which was standing upright on a table, and its message. “By signing,” it read, “I agree to pray without ceasing that God will touch the heart of President-elect Trump with LOVE.”
Many of those who stopped to read it, however, seemed glad to sign. About 15 signatures were collected.
“I want to pray for him,” said Anne Closs. 70, of Owings Mills. “People need prayer.”
Not everyone, however, sounded optimistic. “The American people got what they wanted,” said usher Bill Hollman, 73, of Randallstown. “Let’s see in a year if they want what they got.”