In preparation for the National Day of Prayer, which is always the first Thursday of May, First Lutheran Church and School in Holyoke erected a Soldiers’ Memorial on Sunday, April 30, consisting of one flag for every soldier that has died in the war in Iraq. This flag memorial is our way of paying tribute to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country, and to remind us -- and those who pass by the memorial -- to pray for our troops, and to pray for our country. Conditions permitting, this memorial will remain in place through Memorial Day.

This memorial is not a statement of pro-war or anti-war sentiments. It stands to honor those who have died, as well as their families, and to be a reminder of the need to pray for this great country of ours.

The National Day of Prayer is a day set aside for people to pray specifically for our nation, our president, our government, our military and our citizens. We at First Lutheran invite everyone to join us on Thursday, May 4th, for a number of activities related to the National Day of Prayer – including an all-day prayer vigil, a brief outdoor prayer service at noon, and an evening song and prayer service, at 7:00. There’s also a spaghetti dinner from 5:00-7:30, so you can just plan to eat here! Click here for a detailed listing of all National Day of Prayer events at First Lutheran.

Posterity – you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.
- John Quincy Adams

My great concern is not whether God is on our side. My great concern is to be on God’s side.
- Abraham Lincoln

The liberties of America are the object of Divine Protection.
- George Washington

If God be for us, who can be against us? The enemy has reproached us for calling on His name and professing our trust in Him. They have made a mock of our solemn fasts and every appearance of serious Christianity in the land… May our land be purged from all its sins! Then the Lord will be our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble, and we will have no reason to be aftraid, though thousands of enemies set themselves against us round about.
- Reverend Samuel Lanagdon, President of Harvard College, in an address to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, May 31, 1775

Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment…Whatever makes a man a good Christian also makes a good citizen.
- Daniel Webster

And let us not trust to human effort alone, but humbly acknowledge the power and goodness of Almighty God who presides over the destiny of nation, and who has at all times been revealed in our country’s history, let us invoke His aid and His blessings upon our labors.
- Grover Cleveland, Inaugural Address, March 6, 1885