Mayday is an emergency code word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French venez m’aider, or m’aidez, meaning "come (and) help me".[1] It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency by many groups, such as police forces, pilots, firefighters, and transportation organisations. The call is always given three times in a row ("mayday-mayday-mayday") to prevent mistaking it for some similar-sounding phrase under noisy conditions and to distinguish an actual mayday call from a message about a mayday call.
~ Mayday (distress signal). (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayday_%28distress_signal%29
In article “May Day! Americans call upon God to forgive nation”, Chelsea Schilling of WND states that “Christian and Jewish leaders are inviting Americans to join them at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to pray and repent for how the nation has turned from God.”
I have to admit, however, that I have mixed feelings about this.
…Dr. James Dobson said in an invitation to Americans to attend the event. "May Day 2010 is a time to come together and proclaim what God has done in the past, to pray for forgiveness and to plead for God’s mercy on all of us."
You know, if they had just left it at prayer and repentance, I wouldn’t have half of the consternation that I feel. Here are my reasons for queasiness (other than the fact that I’ve had some bouts of digestive problems of late):
1. First and foremost, the invocation of “May Day”, which is basically a pagan festival of sprint taints it beyond belief. It has political overtones as well, which doesn’t help it in the least, but that is much the same type of maneuver that the Catholic Church used in taking over pagan festivals.
May Day is related to the Celtic festival of Beltane and the Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night. May Day falls exactly half of a year from November 1, another cross-quarter day which is also associated with various northern European pagan and neopagan festivals such as Samhain. May Day marks the end of the uncomfortable winter half of the year in the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations, regardless of the locally prevalent political or religious establishment.
~ May Day. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved on 9 March 2010 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_day
2. I agree that we as a nation have turned our collective back upon God. However, at what level and to what degree will even the leaders of this movement repent? Will it be the typical “just give your heart to the Lord” type of “repentance”? Or, will it be, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit” (Jer 16:19)?
3. Will it be a repentance like in Nineveh, where even the king fasted and put on sackcloth? If the leader of a nation does not repent, will the nation be spared?
And, yet, part of me remains hopeful. There have been times of revival in this country before, and I believe we have been allowed to continue on because of such events. It has been said, although I do not know if it is true but some facts indicate it may be, that only after Willie’s death in 1862 did Abraham Lincoln consider himself “born again”, and it was from this experience that he came to become really determined that all men should be free. At very least, it was after his committal towards God that events in the Civil War began to favor the North, although it was not immediate.
In a similar manner, the 1920s was known as a rather decadent era, which was followed by the Great Depression. The collapse of the economy on a worldwide scale sobered people to much of the previous excesses. Could that same attitude of turning to family and moral standards take route in this day and age? It was the austerity of the Great Depression that hardened men and women and prepared for one of the greatest wars known to mankind. Can we toughen up and get back onto a narrower road this time?
Nineveh repented and the timelines of prophecy were altered. Who knows but that a merciful God would not do so if enough people turn to Him, even in their misunderstandings? Would the horrific prophecies for the modern descendants of Abraham be delayed?
The first Thursday in May traditionally is the National Day of Prayer. This year that's May 6. This makes me wonder if Thursday is a bad day for too many people.
I actually forgot about the National Day of Prayer. Should make a busy time of it, then.