Will You Participate in ‘See You at the Pole’ 2012?
posted on September 24, 2012 at 11:03 am
Every year on the fourth Wednesday in September, Christian students across the globe meet at their schools’ flagpoles to pray for their schools, teachers, administration and classmates; they pray to take back their schools for God. For those of you who haven’t heard, this Wednesday, September 26, is See You at the Pole!
This year’s theme is “Awaken.”
Stir up Yourself, and awake to my right and to my cause, my God and my Lord (Psalm 35:23).
See You at the Pole is a student-initiated and student-led time of prayer. Generally, students meet at their school’s flagpole 30 minutes before the start of school–so if your first period bell is at 7:30 a.m., you’d meet at the flagpole at 7:00 a.m.
Two main questions arise about See You at the Pole–“Is it legal?” and “Didn’t Jesus condemn public prayer?”–so let’s answer those right now.
- Is See You at the Pole legal? Yes! According to a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens and affirmed by President Bill Clinton in 1995, “Students may also participate in before or after school events with religious content, such as ‘see you at the flag pole’ gatherings, on the same terms as they may participate in other noncurriculum activities on school premises. School officials may neither discourage nor encourage participation in such an event.” [syatp.com]
- Didn’t Jesus condemn public prayer? This question comes from a reading of Matthew 6:5-6:
When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Many Christians take this to mean we should never pray in public, but as I researched this Scripture, I learned that Jesus is actually not condemning public prayer; Jesus is condemning a certain motive of the heart. When we pray, the motives of our heart should be thankfulness to God, adoration of God or sincere desire to see change in others’ lives and our world. Our motives need to be pure.
In this Scripture, Jesus is talking about people whose motives are not pure. When these people (mostly Pharisees) prayed, they did it very dramatically so other people would see how amazingly spiritual they were. They prayed to draw attention to themselves and that is an impure motive.
The motive for See You at the Pole is for God to move in our schools. It’s a desire for students’ and teachers’ lives to be changed, and for God to take the leadership of our campuses and upcoming generations. These motives are pure and worthy in God’s eyes.
On June 25, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Engel v. Vitale to remove prayer from public schools, essentially kicking God out of our public school system. See You at the Pole and the Christian clubs that meet on your campuses are our way of inviting God back into our schools, where we desperately need Him.
Will you be joining the millions of Christians around the world to pray for your school? Will we see you at the pole?
If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or it I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).
Image: Thinkstock | Ron Chapple Studios
ALL COMMENTS 31
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Ohh…that’s what that is!
I saw like a billion flyers about that around my school today and I was like, “What the heck is that?”
Same thing here! I kept asking people about it but they didn’t know either! One bad thing about my school is that there are a BUNCH of Athiests. I didn’t go because I didn’t know what it was.
i’m going to a local middle school this wednesday to do that,since i’m homeschooled!!
I am homeschooled, and so i cannot go to a school to pray. However, I will definitely be praying for everyone who participates, and also for the schools in our country. =)
I’m homeschooled too so I will pray for the local schools in my area and beyond!
I wish our school did that when I was in school.Those kids there aren’t into Jesus.
Um…Engel v. Vitale outlawed teachers leading prayer in public schools, not prayer in public schools period. Just saying. I think this is a cool event!
Actually, the teacher that runs Fellowship of Christian Athletes leads See You at the Pole at my school. Lol. And I got to a public school.
That’s different because it’s a club leader and the attendance of the event is optional. Engel v. Vitale outlawed teachers leading prayer in classrooms, at lunch, etc., even if it is voluntary because it is mandatory that the students be present at those places. Does that make sense? Sorry, I could have worded that better.
My church is even having a see you at the pole pre-rally! If you live in the Englewood Port Charlotte you should meet at the Methodist church in Englewood just off of Pine Street. It starts at seven pm but you must be there early to register.
I think so! I hope so!
This will be my first year that I am! I’m excited and ready to be praying for our Country, our leaders, and our education!
Yes! Our Bible Study group hosts his every year
we have donuts before we sing worship and then pray! It’s so inspiring!
I’ve never heard of this day before today so it came as a little surprise, but I can’t wait to get involved! Although I don’t have school on Wednesday, I’m definitely going to be praying for my school and city, as well as other schools throughout the country.
Oh thats so neat! Wish I could do that, but I’m homeschooled
I wish we had this in Denmark! But there isn`t as many christians here as in the US. But I`ll definetly pray!!!
I wouldn’t encourage anyone to go to the pole, unless they want to make themselves a target. I prefer to keep my head down and not broadcast my faith; modern Christianity has way too many negative stereotypes and associations, and I’d rather not have to deal with that nonsense.
Aren’t we as Christians supposed to be open about our faith though? We need to break the stereotypes of modern Christianity and show people who Jesus is!
Yes:) I’m very excited!!
I will be going! I’m excited for it although I know many non-Christians for “fake” Christians will be going as well for who knows why. That really bothers me if they’re doing it just for show purposes, but I’m definitely going to pray for them and hope some of them recognize Jesus’s presence during the prayer.
Oh my goodness! I am so glad to see this! My friend and I actually got our school to do this this year!
I can’t wait to go! This will be my first year going, and I hope we all can feel God’s presence tomorrow during prayer!
This awesome but idk if my school does it or even allows it =/
I’m leading SYATP ! ! ! !
I attend open campus no flagpole.. so i guess ill still pray in open
I really, really wanted to do this but am out w/ the flu and couldn’t go, :’(
I’m so sad i missed it!
I went to my school’s See You at the Pole today! There were quite a few people there, mostly from my school’s Christian club, SLAM (Students Living a Mission). It felt so empowering to be able to stand with my fellow believers and pray for our school and community. I heard some kids talking about it in the hallways too, which means it must have had at least a little bit of an impact
This is the first I have heard of this. This is so cool and very much needed in schools
No it isn’t
I did it, it was great!