====================(Pictures: Mayor Nutter speaking at Independence Hall. View of Liberty Bell)
PRAYER FOR THE OPENING OF THE
CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY, 2010
ON THE STEPS OF INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA.
Give God the praise and blessings to God’s People!
Brothers and Sisters gathered here on this the 234th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we gather in the same spirit as those who first heard it proclaimed. In our prayer we read the words of George Washington when he resigned his Commission as Commander in Chief of the Army in 1783. This prayer asked the guidance we needed as a Nation in 1783 and continues to ask what we need in this different world of the 21st Century. It echoes the words of the ancient prophet Hosea.
CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY, 2010
ON THE STEPS OF INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA.
Give God the praise and blessings to God’s People!
Brothers and Sisters gathered here on this the 234th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we gather in the same spirit as those who first heard it proclaimed. In our prayer we read the words of George Washington when he resigned his Commission as Commander in Chief of the Army in 1783. This prayer asked the guidance we needed as a Nation in 1783 and continues to ask what we need in this different world of the 21st Century. It echoes the words of the ancient prophet Hosea.
Washington spoke in 1783: “I now make it my earnest prayer,
that God would have You (leaders of the various states), and the States over which you preside, in his holy protection,
that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens
· to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government,
· to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field,
· and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.”
Washington prayed to our God who has ears to hear us and eyes to see us and we pray in this season in particular for those with the duty of governance, our President and those in Congress, our Mayor Nutter and City Council members. We pray for the unemployed, for those beset by disasters such as that on the Gulf Coast, for parents, especially the parents of children who require a special love, for the homeless, for immigrants, for the safety of those guarding our public places, for those serving in the Armed Forces, for volunteers who extend their helping hands.
Send us, O gracious God, your Spirit so that we become more clearly a beacon of freedom, justice and peace for our suffering world. Let us say: Amen.
that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens
· to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government,
· to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field,
· and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.”
Washington prayed to our God who has ears to hear us and eyes to see us and we pray in this season in particular for those with the duty of governance, our President and those in Congress, our Mayor Nutter and City Council members. We pray for the unemployed, for those beset by disasters such as that on the Gulf Coast, for parents, especially the parents of children who require a special love, for the homeless, for immigrants, for the safety of those guarding our public places, for those serving in the Armed Forces, for volunteers who extend their helping hands.
Send us, O gracious God, your Spirit so that we become more clearly a beacon of freedom, justice and peace for our suffering world. Let us say: Amen.
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