This was posted on the National Day of Prayer’s web site today…a great call to action:
THE WHITE HOUSE
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 2011
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
2011 NATIONAL DAY OF
PRAYER PROCLAMATION
From the President of the United States
2011 NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER PROCLAMATION
Throughout our history, Americans have turned to prayer for strength, inspiration, and solidarity.
Prayer
has played an important role in the American story and in shaping our
Nation’s leaders. President Abraham Lincoln once said, “I have been
driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I
had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed
insufficient for the day.� The late Coretta Scott King recounted a
particularly difficult night, during the Montgomery bus boycott, when
her husband, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., received a
threatening phone call and prayed at the kitchen table, saying, “Lord, I
have nothing left. I have nothing left. I have come to the point
where I can’t face it alone.� Dr. King said, in that moment of prayer,
he was filled with a sense of comfort and resolve, which his wife
credited as a turning point in the civil rights movement.
It is
thus fitting that, from the earliest years of our country’s history,
Congress and Presidents have set aside days to recognize the role
prayer has played in so many definitive moments in our history. On this
National Day of Prayer, let us follow the example of President Lincoln
and Dr. King. Let us be thankful for the liberty that allows people
of all faiths to worship or not worship according to the dictates of
their conscience, and let us be thankful for the many other freedoms
and blessings that we often take for granted.
Let us
pray for the men and women of our Armed Forces and the many selfless
sacrifices they and their families make on behalf of our Nation. Let
us pray for the police officers, firefighters, and other first
responders who put themselves in harm’s way every day to protect their
fellow citizens. And let us ask God for the sustenance and guidance for
all of us to meet the great challenges we face as a Nation.
Let us
remember in our thoughts and prayers those who have been affected by
natural disasters at home and abroad in recent months, as well as those
working tirelessly to render assistance. And, at a time when many
around the world face uncertainty and unrest, but also hold resurgent
hope for freedom and justice, let our prayers be with men and women
everywhere who seek peace, human dignity, and the same rights we
treasure here in America.
The
Congress, by Public Law 100-307, as amended, has called on the
President to issue each year a proclamation designating the first
Thursday in May as a “National Day of Prayer.�
NOW,
THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America,
do hereby proclaim May 5, 2011, as a National Day of Prayer. I invite
all citizens of our Nation, as their own faith or conscience directs
them, to join me in giving thanks for the many blessings we enjoy, and I
ask all people of faith to join me in asking God for guidance, mercy,
and protection for our Nation.
IN
WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of
April, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
thirty-fifth.
BARACK OBAMA
