Corpus Christi residents are invited to mark the National Day of Prayer on Thursday at noon at the Nueces County Courthouse Leopard Street Pavilion on Leopard Street.
The annual observance falls on the first Thursday of May each year. It dates to 1775, when the Continental Congress called for a day of public humiliation, fasting and prayer. President Harry Truman signed it into federal law in 1952. President Ronald Reagan amended it in 1988, fixing it permanently to the first Thursday of May.
Reverend Henry Williams, who is part of the local observance, said this year's event carries added significance as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary.
Williams said the gathering will follow a prayer developed by the national organization behind the observance.
"It is for the well-being of our nation... that our nation would indeed come into that which is right in God's eyes — one nation under God, indeed a nation that was established upon biblical Christian principles, and we want the nation to return to those principles," Williams said.
He said the prayer also addresses conflict and division.
"The strife that is taking place, the violence that is taking place... we want that not to continue to occur. But that our nation would indeed be what it was established to be, a nation whereby all men and women are equal citizens in our nation under God. And we want to come together as who we are as a people in unity, because in unity we can accomplish great things for our nation."
The event begins at noon and typically runs about an hour.
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