Churches plan prayer service in unity effort

Local churches are banding together to hold an outdoor prayer service this month that they hope will help unify the community in these troubled times.

“Praying Together for Peace” will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, at Grady Park in Saukville.

The event is hosted by A Place To Be Spirituality Center and co-sponsored by Christ the King Lutheran Church, Grand Avenue United Methodist Church, Living Hope Lutheran Church, Parkside Community UCC Church, Redeemed Christian Church of God - Household of God, River of Life Lutheran Church and St. John XXIII Catholic Church. 

“This is really a collaborative effort,” said Kelly Lemens, with A Place To Be. “This is an ecumenical effort to bring peace to our community.”

Lemens said the service will be based on St. Francis of Assisi’s well-known Peace Prayer, which begins, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

“The focus for the service is how we individually can be an instrument for peace,” Lemens said.

The service was the brainchild of Saukville resident Nick Rico, who suggested it after a Black Lives Matter demonstration on July 21 resulted in confrontations between some protestors and passersby.

The arguing continued the next day on social media.

Rico read the comments about what happened and said in a post he had a “strong compulsion in my spirit” to organize a prayer service to bring people together.

“Let’s really make this a positive event. Let’s come together and really make this work,” he wrote, inviting members of churches and multiple faiths to join in organizing the event.

Lemens was one of those who followed up. “Someone forwarded me the posting. So I reached out to Nick,” she said. “We do a lot of work with our ecumenical partners. It developed from there.

“We just came to the conclusion that this would be a good thing to have. The power of prayer cannot be denied.”

Rico said he’s excited that the prayer service is happening. “It definitely feels good,” he said last week. “I’m happy it’s happening. Hopefully it becomes a regular event.”

Lemens said that’s also her hope.

“I really want the community to come together. There’s a definite desire among the group that there is a next step and we’re still clarifying what that might still look like,” she said.

For more information on the prayer service, call Lemens at 277-1928.