Here's the text of the prayer...
With a
"firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence," let us close
this convention by praying for this land that we so cherish and love:
Let us
Pray.
Almighty
God, father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealed to us so powerfully in your
Son, Jesus Christ, we thank you for showering your blessings upon this our
beloved nation. Bless all here present, and all across this great land, who
work hard for the day when a greater portion of your justice, and a more ample
measure of your care for the poor and suffering, may prevail in these United
States. Help us to see that a society's greatness is found above all in the
respect it shows for the weakest and neediest among us.
We
beseech you, almighty God to shed your grace on this noble experiment in
ordered liberty, which began with the confident assertion of inalienable rights
bestowed upon us by you: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thus do
we praise you for the gift of life. Grant us the courage to defend it, life,
without which no other rights are secure. We ask your benediction on those
waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected. Strengthen our
sick and our elders waiting to see your holy face at life's end, that they may
be accompanied by true compassion and cherished with the dignity due those who
are infirm and fragile.
We
praise and thank you for the gift of liberty. May this land of the free never
lack those brave enough to defend our basic freedoms. Renew in all our people a
profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom
bequeathed upon us at our Founding. May our liberty be in harmony with truth;
freedom ordered in goodness and justice. Help us live our freedom in faith,
hope, and love. Make us ever-grateful for those who, for over two centuries,
have given their lives in freedom's defense; we commend their noble souls to
your eternal care, as even now we beg the protection of your mighty arm upon our
men and women in uniform.
We
praise and thank you for granting us the life and the liberty by which we can
pursue happiness. Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the
laws of nature and of nature's God. Empower us with your grace so that we might
resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or
to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and
community. May we welcome those who yearn to breathe free and to pursue
happiness in this land of freedom, adding their gifts to those whose families
have lived here for centuries.
We
praise and thank you for the American genius of government of the people, by
the people and for the people. Oh God of wisdom, justice, and might, we ask
your guidance for those who govern us: President Barack Obama, Vice President
Joseph Biden, Congress, the Supreme Court, and all those, including Governor
Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan, who seek to serve the common good by
seeking public office. Make them all worthy to serve you by serving our
country. Help them remember that the only just government is the government
that serves its citizens rather than itself. With your grace, may all Americans
choose wisely as we consider the future course of public policy.
And
finally Lord, we beseech your benediction on all of us who depart from here
this evening, and on all those, in every land, who yearn to conduct their lives
in freedom and justice. We beg you to remember, as we pledge to remember, those
who are not free; those who suffer for freedom's cause; those who are poor, out
of work, needy, sick, or alone; those who are persecuted for their religious
convictions, those still ravaged by war.
And most
of all, God Almighty, we thank you for the great gift of our beloved country.
For
we are indeed "one nation under God," and "in God we
trust."
So dear
God, bless America. You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen!
(HT: Ed Stetzer)
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