An Inaugural Blessing

Dear God,

We ask for your blessing on this great country, and on our President.

Help us to remember this day that we are not liberals or conservatives but children of God; that we need less anger and more thoughtful concern; less screaming and more listening; less dividing for selfish purposes and more uniting for the common good.

Help us to treasure our freedom and our independence, but never to favor the strong or forget the weak. And let us never lose sight of the humble and disregarded and all who have lost their place at our table.

Help us to cherish our diversity, but to know that to be Americans is also to sing together, in chorus.

And help us to always know good from evil—and to call them by name.

Time is short, and we are summoned by history to fulfill our duty to America’s destiny.

May our President never despair and never lose patience or nerve; may he heed the scriptural call to be of good courage and be not afraid.

And may he always be the servant of the people, and also of You.

And together we say: Amen.