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Inauguration Day Interfaith Service of Prayer & Music

On Inauguration Day, Tuesday, January 20, 2009, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church hosted an interfaith service of prayer and music featuring gospel sensations Maggie Ingram & The Ingramettes. All those gathered prayed in their own faith traditions. Following the service, many individuals moved to Parish Hall for a broadcast of the swearing-in ceremony.

This day of prayer for our democracy, our nation, and the world drew more than 300 people of faith from across the Richmond metropolitan area. Read the article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch and see below for more sights, sounds, and sermons from the day!

The service also appeared on WCVE at 8:00 pm on the Jan. 22 edition of Virginia Currents.

PHOTO GALLERY IS AVAILABLE HERE!

VIDEO

Maggie Ingram & The Ingramettes sing as the community gathers for the 10:30 a.m. service.   

Prayers offered by Richmond interfaith leaders on Inauguration Day.

Video from the new St. Paul's YouTube Channel combining scenes of the service, music, and fellowship.

Service of Prayer & Music
January 20, 2009 at 10:30 a.m.

Download the Bulletin

The Prayers

A Prayer for All Humanity
Rabbi Ben Romer
Congregation Or Ami

A Prayer for Hope
Kevin Heffernan, Zen Campus Minister
University of Richmond

A Prayer for Peace
T.K. Somanath
Hindu Center of Virginia

A Prayer for the United States of America
Chief Kenneth Adams
Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe

A Prayer for Virginia
Jessica Lee
Virginia Muslim Coalition

A Prayer for Richmond
The Rev. Antonio Marques
Iglesia de la Comunidad Evangelica

A Prayer for Our Democracy
The Rev. Dr. Yvonne Jones Bibbs
Sixth Baptist Church

A Prayer for the President of the United States
The Rev. D. Wallace Adams-Riley
St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Dear God, we come before you this day, with hearts full of hope and expectation; and with gratitude.  We come, as well, Lord, as you know, deeply concerned about many things.  We come with full hearts, with prayers and with thanksgiving, and we bring all of this and ourselves to you, trusting in you, God, and asking your blessing: on your world, on this good land and her people, and, particularly, on your servant Barack Hussein Obama.  We pray for our brother Barack, who, moments from now, will ascend to the highest office in the land, to a position of responsibility unlike any other on earth.  You know better than we do the demands that will be placed upon him.  We pray, dear God, that you grant him everything he needs, so that he can be everything our country and the world need him to be.  Fill him with the love of truth and righteousness, and grant him wisdom and strength, so that, under his leadership, we, as people and as a nation, may become everything you, God, call us to be.  May we become, yet more, that city upon a hill that we have so long aspired to be.  May we, and may our new president, do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.  This is our hope; this is our prayer.  Trusting in you, Lord God, we pray.  Amen.

Inaugural Broadcast in Parish Hall
January 20, 2009, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

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Concluding Patriotic Hymns Led by Maggie Ingram & The Ingramettes

America the Beautiful
God Bless America

Friendship, Solidarity, and Peace
A Message from Richmond Interfaith Leaders
Read aloud by prayer leaders and community:

"We live in very challenging times. The issues we face affect us profoundly, not only as people of faith, but also as Americans and as Virginians; as individuals and as members of religious communities. Our respective faiths bring to bear a sense of extraordinary responsibility, and we feel deeply a sense of moral obligation to work to create a better world.

As forces of fearfulness and intolerance try to pull us apart, we are in need of that unifying force that would bridge what can appear to be a widening gap of interfaith misunderstanding and mistrust. As people of faith, coming from any different traditions, we hold important theological differences. But we have more in common than we think. We must never forget the familial bonds that unite us as members of the one human family.

We live in an era in which the world is desperately in need of friendship, solidarity, and peace. We believe that, by coming together and focusing our energies on our shared commitments to justice, mercy, and peace, we can bring about real and lasting change in our commonwealth, in our country, and in the world. By learning, praying, and acting together, we can do this. As people of faith, and with divine assistance, we can do this, and, for the sake of humanity, we must do this.

Amen."

In the News

A segment about the day of prayer appeared at 8:00 pm on the Jan. 22 edition of Virginia Currents on WCVE.
Interviews with individuals as they arrived at the church could be heard on WRVA Radio.

Times-Dispatch: Prayers, applause for Obama

by Robin Farmer
published January 21, 2009

Prayers for President Barack Obama and Americans offered by a diverse group that included a rabbi, a Muslim woman, a Zen Buddhist, a Hindu leader and an ordained African-American minister moved more than 300 people at St. Paul's Episcopal Church yesterday.

The downtown interfaith service on Inauguration Day attracted a diverse audience who listened to faith leaders -- some speaking in different languages -- briefly pray about a specific topic.

"This morning, we ask for your continuing favor on this land," said Chief Kenneth Adams of the Upper Mattaponi, who prayed for the United States.

Praying for Richmond, the Rev. Antonio Marques of Iglesia de la Comunidad Evangelica spoke in Spanish.

The Rev. D. Wallace Adams-Riley of St. Paul's Episcopal Church prayed for Obama.

"You know better than we do the demands that will be placed upon him. We pray, dear God, that you grant him everything he needs, so that he can be everything our country and the world needs him to be," Adams-Riley said. "Fill him with the love of truth and righteousness and grant him wisdom and strength so that under his leadership we . . . may become everything you, God, call us to be."

Others offering prayers were Rabbi Ben Romer of Congregation Or Ami; Kevin Heffernan, Zen campus minister at the University of Richmond; T.K. Somanath of the Hindu Center of Virginia; Jessica Lee of the Virginia Muslim Coalition; and the Rev. Dr. Yvonne Jones Bibbs of Sixth Baptist Church.

"This was a turning point in our history," said Imad Damaj, president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition. "The service we had was so awesome because it was so inclusive and it represented who we are in the United States."

Robert Allen of Richmond found the church appropriate.

"What better place to have this service than in the parish church of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis," said Allen, who watched Obama take the presidential oath on a large screen in the parish hall after the service.

Allen said early yesterday that he chatted with friends about the need for plenty of tissues to wipe tears of joy.

"Just imagine what it's like for black people," he said they told one another.

Chairs were added to accommodate a crowd that grew to standing room as onlookers waited for the historic swearing-in ceremony.

The audience cheered at the first Obama sighting on television.

"Oh yeah, baby!" a man shouted when Obama was introduced.

But as Obama spoke, silence engulfed the hall.

People hugged and clapped after he spoke.

"I grew up with discrimination," said an emotional Deborah Simms of Richmond. Obama becoming president "gave me a sense of accomplishment that a goal had been reached. It lifted up a heavy burden off the African-American race.

"Finally, everyone is beginning to see the light. Barack represents that light."

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