Churches Meet Bush’s Call for Day of Prayer : Religion: Ministers ask God to keep casualties low on both sides. Some are critical of the President’s actions.

Churchgoers heeded President Bush’s call for a day of prayer Sunday, flocking to services where they heard songs of peace and sermons beseeching God to save lives on both sides of the Persian Gulf War.

At St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, the congregation said goodby to Col. Edie Thompson, a nurse in the U.S. Army Reserve and a church member who has been called to active duty.

“Lord, we know you do not hate the Iraqi people, and we know you take no joy in death,” the Rev. Roland Wells said. “We pray that you bring peace, save lives . . . and topple the despot and make things right.”

The pastor’s announcement that Thompson would be leaving Friday for active duty--first in Texas and then possibly overseas--was met with a dismayed murmur from the congregation.

At the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York’s Harlem, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III asked 2,000 worshipers to “pray to soften the heart of Saddam Hussein and clear the mind of George Bush” and all decision-makers.

“War may be raging in the Middle East. But there’s a war being waged on the streets in our city,” said Butts.

He drew applause when he said: “Bush can tell all the lies he wants. But I know the country is sick of this war.”

At Wesley United Methodist Church in Fresno, the congregation sang “Song of Hope” by California religious folk song-writer Jim Sthrathdee. Many United Methodist Churches in the California-Nevada Conference will sing a peace song each Sunday until the war ends.

Bush did his praying at a chapel service at Camp David, Md. He was joined by the Rt. Rev. John Maury Allin, former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. Allin offered a pastoral prayer and country-Western singer Moe Bandy sang several hymns.

A Navy chaplain led the service, which was also attended by Barbara Bush, daughter Dorothy LeBlond and four dozen others, including Marine and Navy personnel serving at the mountaintop presidential retreat, a White House spokesman said.

At the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, U.S. Atty. Gen. Richard Thornburgh addressed thousands of worshipers. The televised service was led by Pastor Robert H. Schuller as part of “Operation Desert Prayer,” a call for prayer Schuller says will continue until the war is over.

In Clive, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines, Pastor Richard Trost of the Faith Lutheran Church offered prayers for Bush and Saddam. He urged the congregation to pray for allied soldiers held prisoner and Iraqi POWs held by allied forces.

“Everyone of these Iraqi guys we see has a family too,” he said.

The American flag was displayed prominently in the sanctuary after being presented by a Boy Scout color guard in recognition of Scout Sunday.

In Little Rock, Ark., the Rev. Steve Lawson, pastor of the Bible Church, told parishioners: “We do not pray for peace at any price.

“We pray the Iraqis would withdraw from Kuwait and live within their own borders,” he said. “We pray that you would bind up the broken nation of Kuwait.”

Lawson also prayed for Saddam, “that he would be converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, that his life would be radically changed.”

One of 1,300 people attending the 11 a.m. Mass at Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago said he found Bush’s call for a day of prayer ironic.

“He initiated the war and now he wants us to pray for peace,” Rick Mingory said.

At St. Patrick’s Cathedral on New York’s 5th Avenue, Cardinal John O’Connor paid tribute to black soldiers, who he said had historically fought in disproportionate numbers, only to be victims of discrimination on their return home.

”. . . one would pray that they could hope to return to a land that would receive them more generously,” O’Connor said, “treat them more equitably; recognize that they are the sons and daughters of almighty God and as American as anyone here of whatever color or background.”