Pastors And Their Congregants Unite To Seek God For Territory On Day of Prayer

ST. CROIX — Prayers were being held in St. Thomas, St. John and here simultaneously on Thursday night for the National Day of Prayer, as the territory’s pastors and their congregants united to seek the face of God on behalf of the islands, their people, leaders and various sectors, following the theme, ‘Lord, Hear Our Cry’.

At the Sunny Isle amphitheater, people from various ministries worshiped openly with hands raised, lifting their voices in unison as Ali Chaseau, senior pastor at Sunny Isle Baptist Church, ushered participants into the presence of the Christians’ God with some of the world’s most recognized worship songs, including Hear My Cry Oh Lord, directly inspired by Psalm 61, Alpha and Omega and other popular selections.

Beltane Harrigan, senior pastor at Way of the Cross Church, who’s also the St. Croix coordinator of the National Day of Prayer, spoke to the Consortium during a brief interview at the event on Thursday, sharing his view of the church’s role in the community.

Senior Pastor at Sunny Isle Baptist, Ali Chaseau, lead worship during a National Day of Prayer event at the Sunny Isle amphitheater

“As far as attendance, the churches have become so small that we have to go outside now, and that gives us an opportunity to be able to draw even more people out of the community, so we’ve been using the amphitheater now for a couple of years,” Harrigan said.

With crime on the rise, an anemic economy and the continuous migration of the territory’s skilled people, VI Consortium asked Harrigan whether the church has been effective in conveying the biblical message of Jesus Christ.

“I think that the churches are preaching the gospel,” he said. “But it takes more than the preaching of the gospel; it takes the practicing of the gospel. And we’re living in a time when, like Jesus, multiples of people came to hear Jesus preach, and when called to really make commitments to him, many of them turned away.

“And so the church is supposed to be the light, and that’s what we’re supposed to do — just be the light for the Lord Jesus Christ and to be able to send the gospel out. And as far as the effectiveness, we have to depend upon the Holy Spirit of God to move upon the hearts of the people because we can’t do it by human means.”

According to Harrigan, prayers were held in six different locations during the day, and culminated with a prayer on the steps of Government House in Christiansted.

Representing Governor Kenneth Mapp at the event was St. Croix Administrator Stephanie Williams, who said the governor, being a very spiritual man, sees faith as playing a critical role in his personal life.

Christians formed small groups to pray for various segments of the community, including government, media and education, among others.

“I would say, from the perspective of the governor, a couple months ago he honored his church at Government House, and the governor is a very spiritual individual,” Williams said. “In all that he does, he always represents the higher power, our Lord Jesus Christ, and without the Lord we’re nothing. We have to lean on him and I think what’s so amazing here is that, there was the section of prayer for everyone — even the media.”

Indeed, the night’s prayer agenda included prayers for various segments of the community, including church, family, education, health/social services, media/culture, business and the economy, as well as military and the government.

Before the night’s message was preached, Christians formed small groups and prayed for their selected unit. But the amphitheater was not overwhelmed with people. There were still seats unoccupied, and compared to other years, the turnout was low. VI Consortium asked Harrigan whether there was a falling away of Christians who, for reasons untold, left the faith.

“I don’t think we are doing as much as we can, but we must be conscious of the fact that the bible did say that there would  be a falling away,” he said. “The bible said in Revelation chapter 3, that the final church before the coming of Christ would think that they have need of absolutely nothing, and the Lord is going to say to them that they are blind, they are naked when they think they’re clothed, and they need their eyes healed because they are not seeing things the way that Jesus is seeing.”

Merlin Valery, who said she attends the event every year because she enjoys the fellowship of believers, was surprised at the law turnout.

“I expected it to be bigger, that’s the smallest I’ve seen it since I’ve been coming, so I was shocked to see so little people,” Valery said. “Seems like God’s people are divided a lot, and with division, you find a lot of splits — people don’t know what unity really is, and once we pull away all the petty things and we look at the big picture, then I think we’ll do better.”

According to Wikipedia, “the National Day of Prayer is an annual day of observance held on the first Thursday of May, designated by the United States Congress, when people are asked “to turn to God in prayer and meditation”. Each year since its inception, the president has signed a proclamation, encouraging all Americans to pray on this day.”

Governor Mapp, in signing the territorial proclamation, said “faith and prayer are important for the guidance they provide in our lives. We can congregate, worship and pray freely, whether in public or in private.”