Following is the invocation prayer offered by the Rev. Franklin Graham at the inauguration of President George W. Bush, January 20, 2001, in Washington, D.C.
“Let us pray.
Blessed are you, O Lord, our God. Yours, O God, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor; for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and to give strength to all.
As President Lincoln once said, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
O Lord, as we come together on this historic and solemn occasion to inaugurate once again a president and vice president, teach us afresh that power, wisdom and salvation come only from your hand.
We pray, oh Lord, for President-elect George W. Bush and Vice President-elect Richard B. Cheney, to whom you have entrusted leadership of this nation at this moment in history. We pray that you will help them bring our country together, so that we may rise above partisan politics and seek the larger vision of your will for our nation.
Use them to bring reconciliation between the races and healing to political wounds, that we may truly become “one nation under God.”
Give our new president and all who advise him calmness in the face of storms, encouragement in the face of frustration, and humility in the face of success. Give them the wisdom to know and to do what is right and the courage to say no to all that is contrary to your statutes of holy law.
Lord, we pray for their families and especially their wives, Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney, that they may sense your presence and know your love.
Today we entrust to you President and Senator Clinton and Vice President and Mrs. Gore. Lead them as they journey through new doors of opportunity to serve others.
Now, O Lord, we dedicate this presidential inaugural ceremony to you. May this be the beginning of a new dawn for America as we humble ourselves before you and acknowledge you alone as our Lord, our Savior and our Redeemer.
We pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Copyright 2001 Samaritan’s Purse All rights reserved.
“Let us pray, please.Following is the benediction prayer offered by the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas, at the inauguration of President George W. Bush, January 20, 2001, in Washington, D.C. Inaugural Benediction:
Almighty God, the supply and supplier of peace, prudent policy and nonpartisanship, we bless your holy and righteous name.
Thank you, oh God, for blessing us with forgiveness, with faith and with favor.
Forgive us for choosing pride over purpose, forgive us for choosing popularity over principles and forgive us for choosing materialism over morals.
Deliver us from these and all other evils and cast our sins into your sea of forgetfulness to be remembered no more.
And Lord not only do we thank you for our forgiveness, we thank you for faith—faith to believe that every child can learn and no child will be left behind and no youth will be left out.
Thank you for blessing us with the faith to believe that all of your leaders can sit down and reason with one another so that each American is blessed.
Thank you for blessing us with the faith to believe that the walls of inequity can be torn down and the gaps between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, the uneducated and the educated can and will be closed.
And Lord lastly we thank you for favor. We thank you for your divine favor. Let your favor be upon President Clinton and the outgoing administration.
May they go forth in spiritual grace and civic greatness.
And of course, Lord, let your divine favor be upon President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Welch Bush and their family. We declare that no weapon formed against them shall prosper.
Let your divine favor be upon the Bush team and all Americans, with the rising of the sun and the going down of the same may we grow in our willingness and ability to bless you and bless one another.
We respectfully submit this humble prayer in the name that’s above all other names, Jesus the Christ.
Let all who agree say ‘amen.’”
