National Day of Prayer

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Today is the designated National Day of Prayer. As such it has been and will continue to be an eventful day. This morning began with the Governor's annual Prayer Breakfast, previously held on Martin Luther King's Birthday. It was a wonderful event with the Governor, many legislative officials and members of the judiciary. For those who were not aware of the NDP this is an excerpt from Abraham Lincoln who established it in 1863. "Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace."

This evening I have been asked to offer a prayer of peace at the capitol in an evening prayer vigil for human rights. These events are always interesting. It is wonderful to see the devotion of so many faithful people who sincerely and earnestly desire to do good in the world and make a difference in the lives of those who suffer.

I hope we will each have a prayer in our hearts for the leaders of this nation and for the people of the world who suffer in many forms, on this designated Day of Prayer and everyday.