Several dozen pastors from across Missouri gathered Monday morning on the state Capitol steps to pray for government leaders and school administrators, staff, teachers and students.
The annual Clergy Observing Public Education (COPE) First Day of School Prayer Initiative is intended to express the concerns pastors have for children in public schools, said Kansas City's Peacemaker Church Pastor Chester McIntyre, COPE president.
"We want to support our government, our authorities, our superintendents," McIntyre said. "We want to support them and let them know that our children are the responsibility of the church as well as the government."
The gathering, he continued, brings more light to the church's responsibility to reach out even more to children - and not let government or other organizations assume responsibility for children.
Laws have been made that push a belief in God to the back, even though the United States is supposed to be one nation under God, McIntyre said.
"We are here to share with our government that we are in the same business, really, of helping citizens in Missouri - and all over America - to be good people and do the right things," he said. "We want to push the good and let (lawmakers) know that we're here to support them. We believe that government is here for the good of our nation, for the good of people and for the good of children."
If people are going to effect change in communities, he said, leaders have to place a lot of interest, instruction and direction on their children.
Don't solely focus on the troubles, McIntyre said.
Make sure children are guided and directed, he said. Trust God to direct state leaders to do what is right for children.
The Rev. W.T. Edmonson, associate pastor of Second Baptist Church in Jefferson City, told listeners some will say preachers' and clergy's place is in the pulpit.
"I differ," Edmonson said. "If preachers and clergy can't speak truth to government and people of power, who better to do so?"
Government officials will often say hey are serving to benefit all. But that is not always the way in which they govern, he added.
He prayed that God puts people in places of power.
"We ask, oh God, that they will seek your face, and that they will do your will," he prayed. "We know that there is something about power. Power corrupts. Power corrupts absolutely. So we ask, oh God, that those who are in power will seek your face and ask your direction before they move forward on anything."
He prayed that God stays with those who government leads, and that those in power understand their responsibility to seek him and be truthful in endeavors.
"They can lead so many people down a downward spiral, on a dangerous path," Edmonson said.
Many leaders don't understand the power they hold over followers. There are those who will pit people against each other.
Edmonson prayed God would remain in their midst and provide opportunities for them to come together.
Keynote speaker, and Missouri state Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis, said the state's rural and urban residents from small towns and big cities all face the new school year together.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage - led much by the delta variant.
But, the Bible tells us by the stripes of Jesus, we are healed, she reminded listeners. And God's love and gifts deliver us from the world's evil.
When God asked Adam, "Where are you?" May said, he wasn't trying to determine where Adam was physically.
"But he was trying to determine what his spiritual state of mind was," May continued. "So, where is the spiritual state of mind of the church today?"
She asked why problems haven't been resolved through the church. "We're supposed to pray," she said, "and invite God in to do what he does best."
She thanked God for walking with us, even when the road ahead is difficult and uncertain.
"We gather here today because we feel called to act - to pray for the protection of our children during this pandemic," May said. "We gather today to strengthen by Christ's message, especially the message delivered from the mountainside to his earliest followers at the Sea of Galilee. In his Sermon on the Mount, Christ said, 'Do to others what you would have them do to you."
Jesus didn't want people to sit on the sidelines.
"We must do," she said. "We must do to others what we will have them do to us. That means he wants us to act. He wants us to do things for our neighbors, for our communities. He doesn't want us to be passive."