Dozens of members of Congress gathered Wednesday evening in the nation's capital to offer prayers to God on behalf of America, President Donald Trump and his cabinet, the U.S. Supreme Court and its justices, and Congress.
The Christian-led prayer event took place nearly 228 years after George Washington took the oath of office to become the first president of the United States on April 30, 1789, and proceeded to St. Paul's Chapel in New York City, accompanied by Congress, to offer God a prayer of dedication on the new country's behalf.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who opened the event, said Washington was revered as "an icon, a god-like figure." He continued:
In all of the representations of Washington in this building, he is the focal point. He is the center of attention. But there is one very special and notable exception. Just off the rotunda, we have a small prayer room. It's a quiet place. It's a quiet place for members to reflect on big decisions. There's a stained-glass window in this prayer room where Washington is depicted as kneeling, his hands joined together in prayer. Surrounding him are the words in the Psalm, "Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust."
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Washington had the humility to seek God's guidance, to ask Him to protect America. His earnest prayer, he called it. To us, this is natural. This is our birthright. It's fundamental. But around the world tonight, there are people, far, far too many people who are persecuted for their faith. They risk everything to pray, literally taking their lives in their own hands in prayer. Repression is the refuge of the week and the insecure. But in these days after Easter, we reflect on the power of resurrection, on the ultimate truth that our lives are transformed by our belief in God. We take heart in knowing, in believing that after a dark night, there will be cause to rejoice and be glad. And so, let us pray.
Heavenly Father, give each of us the wisdom to follow Washington's example and be unafraid in turning to you. Look with love on your servants who suffer. May they be preserved by your grace. In thee, we put our trust. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
This year marked the sixth annual "Washington – A Man of Prayer" service in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall, where weekly Christian church services were held from 1800 to 1869. While Ryan opened this year's event, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., served as honorary hosts.
The list of House members who attended included such names as Brian Babin, R-Texas; Jody Hice, Ga.; Randy Hultgren, R-Ill.; Robert Pittenger, R-N.C.; Ralph Abraham, R-La.; Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga.; Trent Franks, R-Ariz.; Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah; Sean Duffy, R-Wis.; Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.; Trent Franks, R-Ariz.; Louie Gohmert, R-Texas; Steve King, R-Iowa; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; and Mark Walker, R-N.C. Many of the lawmakers stepped forward to lead the room in prayer.
In his remarks, Sen. Daines said:
As so many of you know, our nation's earliest beginnings are deeply rooted in Judeo-Christian principles. George Washington, he was a great warrior. We know about that. but he was a warrior both on the battlefield as well as in private prayer. In fact, there was a Presbyterian minister who wrote down one eyewitness account of Washington's famed prayer at Valley Forge. He said this, and I quote: 'To my astonishment, I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at prayer to God, such a prayer I have never heard from the lips of a man. We never thought a man could be both a soldier and a Christian, but if there is one in the world, it is George Washington.'
This legacy still persists today. In fact, on any given week, to the surprise of many who hear this, whether it's across the aisle or across both chambers here on this hill, members of Congress and congressional staff are meeting throughout the halls of Congress to study the Bible and to pray. We're having weekly prayer breakfasts and meetings. We're coming together to pray and to ask for guidance as we do our work. ... In fact, our legislative days begin with a prayer from our Senate chaplain, Barry Black. I once served in the House, so I got to hear Father [Patrick] Conroy as well. I am personally grateful for their prayers, for their guidance, for their wisdom. We are blessed to have such great reminders of our heritage throughout our nation's Capitol. It's so humbling when I walk onto the floor of the U.S. Senate each day, you see the Latin phrase ... Annuit Coeptis, which means 'God has favored our undertakings.'
You see, so many of the Founding Fathers who are remembered today for their bravery and passion and self-governance ... they fought with their knees bent and their hearts in prayer. And George Washington was no exception. It's critical as we continue to ask God for His guidance and do what His word says if we hope to have His favor. That is why events like these and your prayers are so very important. The issues we debate may change. The folks we debate with may change. But we are constantly reminded as we think of Isaiah 40 verse 8: "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.
Then Daines prayed:
Father, what a privilege it is to come before you here in this historic place in prayer with my fellow Americans across this great nation. Tonight, I pray for my colleagues in Congress. I ask that you protect and strengthen their marriages and their families. And I pray that you would be their encouragement. I humbly ask that you would give us your guidance and counsel as we seek to find solutions to the challenges we face as Americans and the challenges we face around the world. God, I also lift up our justices on the United States Supreme Court to you. You are the creator of justice, and I pray you would give those who sit on the highest court of our land a vision of godly justice for our country. I also pray for their health, their families, their marriages. Please bless them as they seek to administer justice, giving them clarity of mind and a determination for truth. And Father, we pray tonight for President Trump and Vice President Pence. Give them wise counsel and encouragement and protect and strengthen their marriages, their families and health as well. We're humbled. We're grateful that you have called us to serve the people of our great country for such a time as this. I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.
After Sen. Daines came the following remarks from Rep. Walberg:
[Washington] was not simply seen as a great general, a great warrior, a great strategist, a great president, the founder and the father of our country, a man who many Americans wanted to be king, not just president. Washington was a Christian first and foremost. You just have to read his writings and his prayers to understand that was true. ... One of his statements, a quote that you seldom or maybe never heard, but a quote that defined what he saw himself to be, was this. He said, "I have only been an instrument in the hands of Providence." That's a powerful statement, a statement of strength in the fact that he was an instrument in the hands of the strongest power known to mankind and sometimes rejected, God Himself. And yet in that strength, he understood a humility that allowed him to be a servant leader to establish this country and even bring on a peaceful transfer of power, because in his humility, he wanted to be that way. Washington was keenly aware of this fact of being a tool in the hand of God, even knowing the many times that God spared him from the bullets and musket balls that came close to him ... some of which that pierced through his garments but didn't harm him. ... At times, people heard him speaking to God above the din of everything around him. He was a powerful man of prayer, but he also knew the power of the One to whom he prayed.
Rep. Walberg prayed:
Father, preserve us, for we need to take refuge in you. I pray that you will enable each and every one of us in our spheres of influence, wherever that may be, that we may see our place to be simply instruments in your hands. That we, as American citizens, people of this great country, would observe the fact that you rule over all. And you desire that we be blessed as we follow your principles. God, will you enable us, even like our first president, to humble ourselves before you, to turn to you, to pray, to seek your face. And Lord, respond in a way that we will be instruments of your hands, useful to meet the needs of this great country, to lead, to direct, to guide and to pray in such a way that you can indeed bless us again. Father, we thank you that you hear, you love to hear our voices turn to you. And you do respond. It's in the powerful name of Jesus, my savior, I pray. Amen.
Steve Amerson, known as "America's tenor," and a National Christian Choir ensemble, directed by Kathy Bowman, provided special music at the event.
It was Dan Cummins, founding pastor of Bridlewood Church in Bullard, Texas, who launched "Washington – A Man of Prayer" in 2012 as a way to bring a Christian-led prayer event back to Statuary Hall for the first time in over 100 years. Each year, Cummins has received permission from the speaker of the House, first John Boehner and then Paul Ryan, to use Statuary Hall, which used to be the House chamber.
"I believe the impact of this event could be a spiritual turning point for the nation as Americans witness senators and members of Congress reaching out to God in penitent prayers from inside the nation's Capitol," Cummins wrote on the event website.
WND founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief Joseph Farah endorsed the prayer event.
"I attended the 'Washington – A Man of Prayer' event in the historic Statuary Hall in the nation's Capitol for the first time in 2013 and was blown away by the spiritual power unleashed there when dozens of members of Congress gathered with just one purpose in mind – to pray for America according to George Washington's example," Farah wrote. "With Americans reaching the breaking point in frustration with their elected representatives, this gathering can be an example to all of how believers can come together in the kind of common spiritual bond that served as the glue to hold Americans together for more than 230 years. Maybe it can work again."
Many people doubt Washington was really a man of prayer. Conventional wisdom holds the first president was a deist. However, Peter Lillback, one of the nation's leading experts on President Washington, maintains Washington was a man of prayer.
For one thing, Lillback said, there are some 100 written prayers in Washington's writings as well as numerous eyewitness accounts of him praying. In 1771, Washington ordered a copy of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer with specific dimensions so he could carry it in his pocket.
In a 2014 article titled "Top 10 Reasons Washington Was a Man of Prayer," Lillback recounted several times the revered Founding Father lent his support to public and private calls to prayer.
One such occasion was when he proclaimed America's first official Thanksgiving in 1789, writing, "[I]t is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor."
Furthermore, Lillback provided written evidence that Washington prayed for his family, his army, his new nation and the American people. The culmination of Lillback's 20 years of primary-source research and scholarship on Washington's life can be found in his No. 1 Amazon.com national bestseller, "George Washington's Sacred Fire."
Based on all his research, Lillback supports the idea of "Washington – A Man of Prayer."
"[L]ike Washington at Valley Forge, we still have a prayer of a chance," he wrote. "Why not join those who gather in the Capitol building, in the spirit of prayer of our Founding Father? Even if it seems as though the Constitution is slipping away, for now at least, the First Amendment allows us all to pray just like George Washington did."