Presidential Prayer Proclamation

Last week’s National Day of Prayer was marred by the absent actions of President Obama. Planners of this 58th National Day of Prayer sought in vain for a Presidential Proclamation prior to the thousands of Prayer Day events. I had the privilege of conducting the service at our local municipal building. I checked the White House website regularly so I could print out and read the President’s proclamation. It wasn’t available prior to the service, so I used a proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln many years ago. President Obama’s proclamation was eventually posted on the Day of Prayer, but only after many plans had already been laid.

U.S. law says that the President must issue a yearly proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer. Harry Truman signed the law in 1952, and Ronald Reagan amended it designating the first Thursday in May. So the issuing of a proclamation goes beyond personal preference; it is imbedded in U.S. law.

The proclamation had been preceded by rather poor and unacceptable excuses for the President’s lack of public participation. "He will issue a proclamation, but there will be no White House service." "The President prays privately." Perhaps Obama’s reticence stems from a desire to reverse all things Bush, who held a White House prayer service each year. However, President Clinton usually issued his proclamations well ahead of time, so this spiritual slippage cuts across party lines. It is also troubling that Obama specifically mentioned those who choose not to worship in his proclamation. Perhaps this was to quiet some who had criticized him for making the proclamation at all.

The President’s tardiness did not set well with those who are uneasy about the spiritual tone of the country generally and the lack of spiritual fervor specifically of our national politicians. In times of previous national stress, notable interfaith prayer services abounded, but now, in our hour of financial agony, the President seemed to only grudgingly keep the law on proclaiming a national day of prayer.

This troubling issue should increase believers’ prayer enthusiasm. If the President is shaky on prayer, then he really truly needs our prayers. He needs a spiritual dimension in these times of dismal domestic dilemmas and international chaos in order to cope from day to day. We need a recommitment to I Timothy 2:1 & 2 to pray for all in authority, of which Obama has very much. He is manipulating trillions of dollars in horrendous national debt. He oversees national defense. He is about to nominate a U.S. Supreme Court justice. He is setting policy and giving national direction that will have an effect for many years to come.

It would have been good to have these words prior to May 7. But since we have them now, let’s have prayer as the President suggested. In case you missed it altogether, the full text of the President’s National Day of Prayer proclamation follows.

Dave Virkler

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 2009BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAA PROCLAMATION

Throughout our Nation’s history, Americans have come together in moments of great challenge and uncertainty to humble themselves in prayer. In 1775, as the Continental Congress began the task of forging a new Nation, colonists were asked to observe a day of quiet humiliation and prayer. Almost a century later, as the flames of the Civil War burned from north to south, President Lincoln and the Congress once again asked the American people to pray as the fate of their Nation hung in the balance.

It is in that spirit of unity and reflection that we once again designate the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer. Let us remember those who came before us, and let us each give thanks for the courage and compassion shown by so many in this country and around the world.

On this day of unity and prayer, let us also honor the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. We celebrate their commitment to uphold our highest ideals, and we recognize that it is because of them that we continue to live in a Nation where people of all faiths can worship or not worship according to the dictates of their conscience.

Let us also use this day to come together in a moment of peace and good will. Our world grows smaller by the day, and our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife; and to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. As we observe this day of prayer, we remember the one law that binds all great religions together: the Golden Rule, and its call to love one another; to understand one another; and to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

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 7, 2009, as a National Day of Prayer. I call upon Americans to pray in thanksgiving for our freedoms and blessings and to ask for God’s continued guidance, grace, and protection for this land that we love.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.