I am reading, and very much enjoying, a non-fiction book called American Gospel, written by Jon Meacham. It is, as its title implies, a book about America’s attempts to keep Church and State separate.

I thought I would share some points from the book in a few posts. Here, for example, is a prayer a minister recited at the 1944 church service to commemorate FDR’s first inauguration. Apparently FDR liked the prayer a great deal and was very happy to have it included in the service. Given the events of the past few weeks which have upset many people, including me, I wanted to pass the prayer along. No matter who you might see as the “enemy,” following the various biblical admonition regarding one’s enemies, is a good idea at any time.

The prayer:

“Most loving Father, who by thy Son Jesus Christ hast taught us to love our enemies and to pray for them, we beseech Thee, give to those who are now our enemies the light of thy Holy Spirit. Grant that they, and we, being enlightened in conscience and cleansed from every sin, may know and do Thy will, and so be changed from foes to friends united in Thy service, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

A few paragraphs from this prayer is the full text of the prayer FDR himself offered up via radio. I will not reproduce the full text here. Since, though, it is apparently not covered by copyright and I can share it, then, without violating anyone’s copyright, I will share it in a new post. Meanwhile, if you want to hear the prayer as delivered by FDR, here is the link to the audio on the History Channel’s Web site:                       Play video