2013 Presidential Inauguration Prayer

O Lord, Our God, whose name is excellent, whose power is matchless and whose ways are past finding out, we gather as a grateful nation this 57^th Presidential Inauguration, to give you thanks, praise and adoration, just for who you are----our Creator, Sustainer, Protector and Guide.

Our grateful hearts are filled with exuberant joy and hopeful expectation for the second term of our beloved President, Barack Hussein Obama, whose honor it is to serve, lead and inspire a great nation and a great people.  For First Lady Michelle Obama, Sasha and Malia Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, Cabinet members, advisors, our military and their families, we give you thanks for their sacrifice and service.  

We ask you to spread your arms of protection, hand of mercy, ark of safety, and gift of wisdom over the President’s life and leadership, so that people of every background, race and creed might prosper in this historic time.   Who, but an awesome God of the universe could so steer the course of history, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Holiday and the second term of the first African American President, would occur on the same day. For that, we give you our collective hallelujah!    

Give us the holy boldness, dear Lord, to finish Dr. King's dream of a nation lifted from the dark valley of the triple evils of racism, poverty and militarism, to the sunlight mountain of brotherhood, sisterhood, prosperity for all Americans, and a world of peace. And now, God, we ask you to raise up leadership with godly character and integrity, joining heads and hearts across every dividing line, to help us become one nation under God indivisible. . .until justice rolls down like water and righteousness as an ever flowing stream.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.

Prayer for the Nation grieving the SANDY HOOK Elementary School murders in Newtown, CT

O Lord Our God, how we praise you as Author of Life for loving and accepting unconditionally all whom you have created. As a nation, we mourn the mounting human tragedies that were set in motion nearly 14 years ago with the 1999 Columbine, Colorado high school massacre.  The recently killing of 20 six and seven year olds, and six adults at a Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, has seared our nation's heart as we cry for these our children and members of our American family.  The sheer magnitude of our babies shot down at the starting gate of their young lives wounds us deeply O God, so we turn to you for comfort and strength to make sense of it all.   

In the escalation of mass murders--from a Ft. Hood, Texas Army base, to a Virginia Tech college campus, to an Arizona supermarket congressional greeting, to a crowded Aurora, Colorado theater, to an Oregon mall of Christmas shoppers--we mourn and cry out to you for answers to our "why" questions, we can find no where else?  From the depths of our sorrow, we seek the wisdom and courage to address with clear and open minds the right kind of gun control and mental health reforms these acts of senseless violence signal. 

O Lord, Our God, help us today to embrace your command to "love you and every neighbor as we love ourselves", especially the often hard to understand neighbors who withdraws to dark places that seem beyond our reach.  Through our tears and pain we remember and thank you for sending your beloved Son Jesus to earth to "bear our grief and carry our sorrows" for children taken too soon and much too brutally from our midst. Remind us today that children of every race and background are to be embraced as all of our children, as we remember to express our love more often and hug more tightly the children in our own families. We pray your comfort and strength for the journey of grief, anger, and forgiveness the families of the victims and perpetrators must endure as we hold them close in our hearts and continued prayers.  We rest now in the blessed assurance of your promises that you, O God,  "will be with us through troubles" and will "never leave or forsake us."  In the matchless and magnificent name of the One whose name is above every name, we pray. Amen.