Daily Ramblings:
The Murmur Of A Prayer ...05/05/2005 04:48:42 pm
Another example of fine and quiet eloquence in a
speech by George W. Bush, today at the White House to
mark the National Day of Prayer. In its way, this
speech thoroughly answers those hysterical critics
who continue to maintain that some kind of theocracy
is being established in the United States of America.
And, to bring it all back home on this site to a
familiar Dylan angle, it also straightforwardly
addresses the rampant (if not often deliberate)
confusion over the notion that this President claims
to have God on his side.
So, starting a little ways in, here is what the
President said today:
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.
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.
END 9:32 A.M. EDT
(from whitehouse.gov)
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