November is Religion in American Life Month, dur
ing which the nation is reminded of the importance
of prayer. The following article underscores RIAL'S
theme that strength for a person as well as a
nation comes from living faith.
FAITH
BY PHONE
by CARL BAKAL
' .- ' ' . j 1 1 Jk
770 age-old power of prayer is being
brought to millions daily by the simple
modern expedient of dialing a number
On the night table were a bottle of
potassium cyanide and a telephone.
The distraught man stared at them, in
struments of life and death in this moment
of utter desolation. His hand went out,
hesitated over the poison, then moved to
ward the receiver.
In a moment he was listening to the
recorded message of inspiration from Dr.
John Sutherland Bonnell, pastor of New
York's Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.
No life is hopeless to God, Dr. Bonnell
was saying. Eyes closed, the man listened
to the message, over and over, before call
ing Dr. Bonnell directly.
"Do you really believe what you say on
that recording, Dr. Bonnell?" he asked.
The clergyman assured him that he did
and, sensing the man's crisis, invited him
to his study for a personal talk. When the
man left their meeting, he handed Dr.
Bonnell the bottle of potassium cyanide
with which he had planned to end his life.
He had taken on new hope, found new
strength.
"Faith by phone" has saved more than
one person from suicide and has given
moments of spiritual solace to millions of
others caught in the hectic pace of daily
living. In an estimated 150 areas, no man
is farther from the comfort of prayer than
the nearest telephone, and the number of
persons using this service increases daily.
In Los Angeles, 10,000 calls a day are re
ceived by the YMCA service. Chicago's
"Y" handles 5,000 daily and has counted
more than a million in its three years of
operation. In smaller cities, the Memorial
Baptist Church of Columbia, Mo., (pop.
32,000) gets 400 calls daily for its "Inspira
tion, Please," and the Cactus Drive Church
of Levelland, Texas, receives about 100.
"In this atomic age, men feel the need
for prayer more than ever," explains the
Rev. August F. Brunn, whose St. Andrew's
Lutheran Church offers telephone inspira
tion to Pittsburgh. "Our business as a
church is to bring the word of God to men
whenever they need it. The telephone is
one of our ways of doing it."
The help offered by these recorded mes
sages is as varied as the people in need.
An Ohio factory worker, victim of a boss,
with a furious temper, dials the local
prayer service when there are arguments
and hands the receiver to his chief. The
soothing words calm everybody.
Housewives find the messages steady
jangled nerves, businessmen phone when
facing a difficult decision, as do doctors
about to enter the operating room. Hospi
tal patients, shut-ins, the aged, and others
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who cannot visit their ministers dial a
prayer several times a day.
A Marion, Ohio, minister reports that a
five-year-old boy calls the local prayer
service every day, listens to the message,
then dials again for the benefit of his aged,
blind grandmother.
Many persons report that they call every
day on arising. A Broadalbin, N. Y.,
woman refers to it as her "right start for
the day." In Madison, Wis., an elderly
lady, afraid at night, finds the message
gives her the calm to go to sleep. Some
families have incorporated the recorded
messages into their evening devotions.
Community churches, or groups of
churches, usually sponsor the dial-a-prayer
services, which cost anywhere from
$15 to $1,000 a month. The YMCA, cham
bers of commerce, Kiwanis and other serv
ice groups also give the programs finan
cial backing.
The recorded devotions run anywhere
from 10 seconds to two minutes and are
usually nondenominational. In most com
munities, the messages are changed daily,
and in Scarsdale, N. Y., reportedly the
first dial-a-prayer town in the nation,
they are changed twice a day.
Simple prayers are most popular, but
readings may include Psalms, Bible verse,
and other sections of Scripture, or perhaps
just a plain "pep talk." Some telephone
prayers have specific aims, though. In
Chicago, alcoholics fighting the urge to
lose themselves in a bottle can dial a
number to spend "A Minute a Day with
the Major." This is a message directed at
drinkers by Maj. Roland Quinn of the
Salvation Army's Harbor Light Center on
Skid Row. More than 100,000 calls have
come to Major Quinn's number in three
years, and many have phoned him per
sonally for specific advice or to arrange
an interview.
Of the general prayers, possibly the
most popular was recorded by F. William
Stahl, branch associate general secretary
of the Baltimore YMCA, who has selected
and read more than 1,000 messages. This is
how it goes:
"Lord, give me the strength to accept
with serenity the things that cannot be
changed. Give me the courage to change
the things that can be changed and give
me the wisdom to distinguish one from
the other."
Simple words. But for the anxious per
son pausing in his day to dial a moment's
peace, they lift the spirit and remind him
of life's true importance.
family
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November 1, 1959
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