Many Expected To Flock To National Prayer Day Gatherings To Be Held At Cda, Post Falls, Hayden City Halls

Hundreds of people are expected to take to Kootenai County city halls this noon - and they expect to be heard.

But those gathering in Coeur d’Alene, Hayden and Post Falls don’t expect to have to storm the gates of government to deliver their pleas.

The Christians huddling around flagpoles at city halls will be celebrating the National Day of Prayer, a time to put aside the smallness of denominational squabbles and focus instead on truly big problems: Ebbing faith in government. Violence-wracked schools. The unknown effects of welfare reform. The threat of flooding here and across the country.

“I don’t think in years past you would find that open support for other Christian denominations,” said the Rev. Ted Werfelmann, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church. He’s also president of the Coeur d’Alene Ministerial Association, which is sponsoring the gatherings along with Gatekeepers, another group of church leaders.

“More and more there is a desire to find more areas of agreement and common ties, rather than the differences that separate,” Werfelmann said.

Last year, about 150 people met at Coeur d’Alene’s city hall. About 50 met at both Post Falls and Hayden. Worshipers will meet at city halls at noon. Living Hope Church, 2300 Ironwood Drive in Coeur d’Alene, will wrap things up with an evening service at 7 p.m. Many in Werfelmann’s Lutheran flock will attend. So will some from St. Pius X Catholic Church - where May 1 also has another meaning.

“It’s a day of prayer in our own place, it’s the feast of St. Joseph - the patron saint of the universal church,” said the Rev. Roger LaChance.

Organizers asked local leaders what problems they felt were in need of divine intervention.

Worshipers will find out what the responses were today.

This national push for prayer comes at a time when churches are stepping up efforts to pray more, and pray together.

Werfelmann’s church recently installed a prayer hotline where people can call to hear a list of the congregation’s prayer requests.

And when something works out for the better, the hotline lets callers know that, too.

“That’s the other thing I think we’re more conscious about … prayers of thanks for answered prayers,” Werfelmann said.

, DataTimes