LEAD US IN PRAYER

While I was pastor of a very small AME church in Butler, Missouri, BROOKS CHAPEL, (1995-2004) I once asked a man who had been somewhat regular in attendance to pray . He could not, would not, did not, and thereafter he never returned to worship with us ! I was reminded of this unusual occurrence when reading a similar account involving Dr. W. E. B. DuBois at Wilberforce University in Ohio, which is an AME college. DuBois wrote in DUSK OF DAWN (1940), his autobiography: "Into this situation I landed with the cane and gloves of my German student days; with my rather inflated ideas of what a 'university' ought to be and with a terrible plainness of speech that was continually getting me into difficulty; when, for instance , the student leader of a prayer meeting into which I had wandered casually to look local religion over, suddenly and without warning announced that 'Professor DuBois would lead us in prayer,' I simply answered, 'No, he won't,' and as a result nearly lost my job. It took a great deal of explaining to the board of bishops why a professor at Wilberforce should not be able at all times and sundry to address God in extemporaneous prayer. I was saved only by the fact that my coming to Wilberforce had been widely advertised and I was so willing to do endless work when the work seemed to me worth doing." P.594-595. DUBOIS :WRITINGS (1986)