January 21, 2009
By Mary Frances Schjonberg

Four days of ceremonies and prayers for President Barack Obama's inauguration came to a close January 21 with the traditional National Prayer Service at the Episcopal Washington National Cathedral.

President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden attended the invitation-only service along with members of his administration, Congress, and the diplomatic corps; faith leaders and other invited guests, nearly 3,200 in all. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori asked God during the service's closing prayer "strengthen and sustain Barack, our President, that in the days to come he may lead your people with confidence and compassion.

"On this radiant day we give thanks to you, O God, for the freedom to gather united in prayer," she prayed, in a prayer that was drawn in part from Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address on March 4, 1865. "Strengthen and sustain Barack, our President, that in the days to come he may lead your people with confidence and compassion. Grant patience and perseverance to the people of this Nation.

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, may we strive to finish the work you have given us to do that we may achieve a just and lasting peace. In this time of new beginnings, new ventures, and new visions, light in us the fire of justice, and the passion for forgiveness. Give us the strength to hold fast to what is good that we may go forth renewed and committed to make hope a reality."

The Rev. Sharon E. Watkins, general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) preached the sermon (available at http://www.disciples.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=3JyPNkbqzdA%3d&tabid=476, online), the first time a woman has preached at the service. She began by thanking God for raising up a leader "who would begin a servant's work with worship."

After a day filled with the ceremony of the swearing-in, the inaugural parade and the 10 official balls that lasted in the early hours of January 21, Watkins said that "today the nation turns its full attention" to the work that awaits it.

"As we do, it is good that we pause and take a deep spiritual breath," Watkins said, preaching from the cathedral's flower-festooned Canterbury Pulpit. "It is good that we center for a moment. What you are entering now, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, will tend to draw you away from your ethical center. But we, the nation that you serve, need you to hold the ground of your deepest values, of our deepest values."

Watkins extended that charge to the assembled members of the government. "We need you, leaders of this nation, to stay centered on the values that have guides us in the past; values that empowered us to move through the perils of the present and of earlier times and can guide us now into a future of renewed promise," she said.

The service was a variation on the Book of Common Prayer's Morning Prayer, and included scripture readings, prayers, hymns and blessings delivered by faith leaders from across the United States. A video stream of the prayer service was available online on the cathedral's website at http://www.nationalcathedral.org/.

The Rev. Canon Carol L. Wade, Washington National Cathedral precentor, said before the service that she studied previous national prayer services "but also crafted prayers, drawing in part from Lincoln's Inaugural address."

"It has been a joy to create a service that reflects the aspirations of hope and unity expressed by President Obama in this significant time in our nation's history," she said in a January 20 release from the cathedral.

A complete list of participants is available at http://www.pic2009.org/blog/entry/national_prayer_service_will_draw_from_different_faith_traditions, and the order for the 80 minute service is online at http://www.nationalcathedral.org/pdfs/inaugural090121.pdf.

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, cathedral dean, welcomed attendees, and commended Obama for including public prayer in his first full day on the job. Diocese of Washington Bishop John Chane then gave the invocation.

Watkins' sermon drew on the images in a Cherokee story she told about how each person has an angry and fearful wolf and a compassion wolf battling inside of him or her. She told the congregation that the winner is the one each person chooses to feed.

"In crisis times, a basic instinct takes us over -- a fight/flight instinct we call it and it leans us towards the fearful wolf," she said.

"In international hard times, our instinct is to fight -- to pick up the sword, to seek out enemies, to build walls against the other -- and why not?" Watkins asked. "They just might be out to get us. We've got plenty of evidence to that effect."

"Someone has to keep watch and be ready to defend, and Mr. President -- Tag! You're it!" she said, drawing laughter from the congregation. Watkins suggested that the congregation consider how a recent document from an international group of Muslim scholars, "A Common Word Between Us," proposed that love of God and love of neighbor ought to the basis for building world peace.

"That's what we just read in the Gospel of Matthew," she said, alluding to the day's reading from Matthew 22:36-40 in which Jesus remind his followers of the law of the prophets to love God and neighbor.

Watkins said that people can love God "by facing hard times with a generous spirit: by reaching out toward each other rather than turning our backs on each other."

The prayer service is a tradition dating back to the inauguration of George Washington and is considered the conclusion of the official inaugural events.

The first inauguration of George Washington in 1789 in New York City was shaped largely by a Congressional resolution that relied heavily on the English coronation ceremony, according to information on the cathedral's website. It required that, following the oath of office in front of Federal Hall on Wall Street, the Senate and House walk a short distance to St. Paul's Chapel on Broadway to hear "divine service" by the chaplain of Congress, Bishop Samuel Provoost. He acted in a role similar to that of the Archbishop of Canterbury at English coronation services.

Episcopal News Service