THE
PRESIDENT: Good morning, and welcome to the White House. Laura and I are
honored to join you on this important occasion.
I want to thank Shirley Dobson, the chairman of the National Day of
Prayer. Thank you for organizing this event and thank you for your
wonderful comments. I'm glad to see you brought your husband, Jim, with
you. (Laughter.) It's good to have Vonette Bright with us, welcome. I
appreciate my fellow Texan, Max Lucado, for his wonderful prayer. Thank
you very much; welcome. I'm glad you and Denalyn are with us. Rabbi,
thank you for your reading of the psalm. It's good to have your family
here; welcome. I appreciate Father Charles Pope, pastor of St. Thomas
More Catholic Church, here in D.C. Kind of sounded more like a Baptist
preacher to me. (Laughter and applause.)
Laura and I are proud Methodists and we're pleased to be here
with Bishop Peter Weaver, who is the president of the Council of
Methodist Bishops, who will deliver the closing prayer. Thank you.
It's such an honor to be here with the St. Olaf Choir led by Anton
Armstrong. You've got such beautiful music, thank you for sharing with
us. (Applause.) I'm sure they're having a prayerful moment right now --
(laughter) -- praying that I hurry up and finish because they have been
standing for quite a while. (Laughter.)
The National Day of Prayer is an annual event established in 1952 by
an Act of the United States Congress. Yet, this day is part of a broader
tradition that reaches back to the beginnings of America. From the
landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, to the launch of the American
Revolution, the men and women who founded this nation in freedom relied
on prayer to protect and preserve it.
Today, prayer continues to play an important part in the personal
lives of many Americans. Every day, millions of us turn to the Almighty
in reverence and humility. Every day, our churches and synagogues and
mosques and temples are filled with men and women who pray to our Maker.
And almost every day, I am given a special reminder of this great
generosity of spirit when someone comes up and says, Mr. President, I'm
praying for you.
Prayer has been an important part of American public life, as well.
Many of our forefathers came to these shores seeking the freedom to
worship. The first Continental Congress began by asking the Almighty for
the wisdom that would enable them to settle things on the best and
surest foundation. And when our Founders provided that sure foundation
in the Declaration of Independence, they declared it a self-evident
truth that our right to liberty comes from God.
And so we pray as a nation for three main reasons. We pray to
give thanks for our freedom. Freedom is our birthright because the
Creator wrote it into our common human nature. No government can ever
take a gift from God away. And in our great country, among the freedoms
we celebrate is the freedom to pray as you wish, or not at all. And when
we offer thanks to our Creator for the gift of freedom, we acknowledge
that it was meant for all men and women, and for all times.
Second, we pray for help in defending the gift of freedom from those
who seek to destroy it. Washington prayed at Valley Forge. Franklin
Roosevelt sent American troops off to liberate a continent with his
D-Day prayer. Today, we pray for the troops who are defending our
freedom against determined enemies around the globe. We seek God's
blessing for the families they have left behind, and we commit to
Heaven's care those brave men and women he has called home.
AUDIENCE: Amen.
THE PRESIDENT: Finally, we pray to acknowledge our dependence on the
Almighty. Prayerful people understand the limits of human strength. We
recognize that our plans are not always God's plans. Yet, we know that a
God who created us for freedom is not indifferent to injustice or
cruelty or evil. So we ask that our hearts may be aligned with His, and
that we may be given the strength to do what is right and help those in
need. We who ask for God's help for ourselves, have a particular
obligation to care for the least of our brothers and sisters within our
midst.
During the funeral for Abraham Lincoln, Bishop Matthew Simpson
relayed a story about a minister who told our 16th President that he
hoped the Lord was on his side. Lincoln wisely replied that he was more
concerned that he was on the side of the Lord, because the Lord was
always on the side of right.
Freedom is a divine gift that carries with it a tremendous human
responsibility. The National Day of Prayer is a day that we ask that our
nation, our leaders and our people use the freedom we have been given
wisely. And so we pray as Americans have always prayed: with confidence
in God's purpose, with hope for the future, and with the humility to ask
God's help to do what is right.
Thank you for coming. May God bless. (Applause.)