A Blessing for President Obama

by Reverend V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

O God, we give you thanks for your child Barack as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership, FDR’s courageous boldness and vision, and JFK’s ability to enlist the best efforts of our people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain for these times, not a fierce warrior who knee-jerk reacts to every real or perceived threat.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired to make the sacrifices necessary to face the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, remembering his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on his experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember even though he’s President, a father gets only one shot at his daughters' childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking way too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you to hold him in the palm of your hand-that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that he might lead us to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace.

AMEN