WASHINGTON (BP) — In adversity, Americans can find comfort through prayer, President Bush said May 1 in a White House observance of the 57th National Day of Prayer.
“Over the last seven years, our country has faced many trials. And time and time again we have turned to prayer and found strength and resilience,” Bush said at the morning event. “We prayed with those who've lost everything in natural disasters, and helped them heal and recover and build. We prayed for our brave and brilliant troops who died on the field of battle. We lift up their families in prayer.”
The observance was the eighth consecutive year Bush has spoken in the White House on the National Day of Prayer. He was joined in the East Room by members of his Cabinet, members of Congress and military chaplains.
“As we pray for God's continued blessings on our country, I think it makes sense to hope that one day there may be an International Day of Prayer,” Bush suggested. “It will be a chance for people of faith around the world to stop at the same time to pause to praise an Almighty.”
An observance was held in a House of Representatives office building in the afternoon of May 1 with remarks from this year's NDP honorary chairman Ravi Zacharias, a noted Christian apologist.
The National Day of Prayer Task Force estimated that several million people would gather at more than 35,000 events across the nation as part of the observance, which this year was marked with the theme “Prayer! America's Strength and Shield,” based on Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and shield; my heart trusts in him and I am helped.”
Bush mentioned the role prayer played in the lives of several great American presidents, including George Washington who took the oath of office and added, “So help me God,” and John Adams' famous prayer during his first day in the White House, “May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
“During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln turned to prayer,” Bush said. “His second inaugural address quoted from Scripture. He stood before the United States people and quoted from Scripture, and he sought to heal a people who ‘read the same Bible and prayed to the same God.' ”
William McKinley's last words, when he was dying from an assassin's bullet, reportedly were “Nearer, my God to Thee,” Bush said, and as American forces risked their lives on D-Day, Franklin Roosevelt delivered a presidential prayer over the radio.
“Three days after the worst terrorist attack on American soil, Laura and I joined our fellow citizens in prayer before the Lord,” Bush said. “It was in the middle hour of our grief. We prayed for those who were missing. We prayed for the dead. We prayed for those who loved them.”
The president thanked those in the East Room for their prayers, and he told how someone once asked him what he thought about as he visited the Sea of Galilee.
“I said I have finally understood the story of the calm on the rough seas. I may have been a little hardheaded at times, but I'm absolutely convinced it was the prayers of the people who helped me understand in turbulence you can find calm and strength,” Bush said.
The National Day of Prayer Task Force reported that the governors of all 50 states issued proclamations regarding the day of prayer this year. Bush, in his proclamation April 22, asked Americans to thank God for the freedoms and blessings they have received and to ask for his continued guidance, comfort and protection.
“America trusts in the abiding power of prayer and asks for the wisdom to discern God's will in times of joy and of trial,” the presidential proclamation said. “As we observe this National Day of Prayer, we recognize our dependence on the Almighty, we thank him for the many blessings he has bestowed upon us, and we put our country's future in his hands.”
Throughout the nation May 1, people gathered at churches and public venues to pray for the country, government leaders, media, churches, families and schools. Activities ranged from prayer breakfasts and Bible reading marathons to rallies, church prayer vigils and student flagpole gatherings.
The National Day of Prayer is an observance held each year on the first Thursday in May. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman.