NEWS SIDEBAR: Text of McKenzie Prayer at the White House

c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Newly elected African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Vashti McKenzie has the reputation of being one of the nation’s top preachers. Here is an excerpt from the prayer she delivered at the White House prayer breakfast Sept. 14: Eternal one and almighty creator who is both our father and our […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Newly elected African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Vashti McKenzie has the reputation of being one of the nation’s top preachers. Here is an excerpt from the prayer she delivered at the White House prayer breakfast Sept. 14:

Eternal one and almighty creator who is both our father and our mother, the shepherd of our fold, attune our hearts to seek you here this hour. It is with a great sense of gratitude that we call upon you again this morning, the one whom continues to be the I am that I am, and for what you continue to do in us and with us and through us.


Thank you for the burdens and the blessings for our individual calls to serve you in our particular ways _ in the halls of justice, the seat of government, the marketplace, the places of decision, the academy the pew, the pulpit, the sanctuary, the temple, the mosque and the synagogue.

Thank you for the call to bring the uniqueness of our traditions together to serve you collectively. Prick our conscience with an ever-increasing desire to alleviate the burdens of those already suffering under the injustice of economic holocaust, the devastation of disease, the horrors of hate, the complications of civil conflict (and) the throes of terrorism. …

Help us in this hour to lift our brothers and sisters, not just by word but also by deed, out of the muck and mire of policies that were intended to help.

Help us to renew the bonds of kinship with laws rich in invention and innovation and resources. Strengthen ties that history has fragmented by global injustices that stop the disenfranchised, destroy, dislocate, deter so that the potential would dry up like a raisin in the sun in the middle passage of racism. Remove every exclusionary barrier and free us to look beyond the horizon of our own concerns to consider the needs of others. …

This is still one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, so then help us our God not only to say it but to be it.

Now take your divine finger and erase the barriers between us all. Motivate us to rediscover the river of humanity that flows through nations of every hue. Open our eyes blinded by personal agendas to see the ground that is common to us all and having found it stand upon it as an example to the world that all things are still possible, nothing is impossible with God.

Now bless the succulent table heavily laden with provisions for our nourishment.

Bless now the hands that have skillfully prepared the raw materials into a glorious finished product.


Bless now the hands that dutifully serve it for the nourishment of our bodies and together we can all say `Amen.’

JL END BANKS

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