Thanksgiving

Our Father,

We come before You today with thanksgiving. We give thanks for the privilege of living in the United States of America, where we are free to worship You --- We have freedom of religion. We thank You for the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. As Jefferson wrote in the Declaration, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

We are thankful for the wisdom of the Founding Fathers. Even at the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin requested prayer --- stating that he had lived a long time and he did not believe an empire could arise without Your Divine Blessing. We were given a Republic, ruled by law and not by man; where only the governed could give the the right to make law to the government.

We ask that Your protective hand will remain on this nation.

As Thomas Paine wrote in "The Crisis" in 1776 ---"These are the times that try mens' souls." We beseech Your continued Presence in our land.

We ask that You give wisdom and knowledge to our elected leaders in Washington DC, and to our state, county and local officers, so that these freedoms which we have so long enjoyed will endure.

May the veil over our eyes be removed, and may we see clearly our course of action.

We praise You and ask for Your grace and mercy on this nation.

We ask this in the Name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.

Prayer of Invocation, delivered by Sally Booth at the LJRWF meeting, 3/19/09