Article September 4, 1995 Issue

School prayer

by Kim Shippey

While the issue of school prayer in the United States continues to exercise the minds of politicians, lobbyists, and parents, several communities are sidestepping the rhetoric and the controversy and cutting right through to the essence of prayer. Each week hundreds of thousands of mothers of many denominational backgrounds (plus some dads, grandparents, and other relatives) meet off-campus to pray for the students and teachers in their local schools. On the eve of another school year, we chatted with several of these mothers.

Sue Bush has a son in fourth grade, and a daughter in seventh grade. She told us: "I consider my prayers for the children more important than anything else I do! In our group we pray for blessing on the students, teachers, administrative staff, and all other workers in the school. We pray for wisdom in their decisionmaking; for energy for teachers —especially at this time of year; and in general for the academic and social needs of our children.

"We pray a lot for protection. We know that our kids will be gone for six hours and we won't be there for them. And it's such a blessing and comfort that we can ask God to be there and protect them. We know our prayers are effective. He loves our children even more than we do!

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