Benediction given at the Inauguration of Barack Obama

Benediction given at the Inauguration of

President Barack Obama

By Reverend Joseph Lowery

 

God of our weary years:

God of our silent tears;

Thou who has brought us thus far along the way;

Thou who hast by thy might led us into the light;

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

 

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee;

Lest our heart drunk with the wine of the world

We forget thee.

Shadowed beneath they hand

May we forever stand

True to thee, Oh God,

And true to our Native Land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience

We've shared this day.

We pray now for your blessing upon your servant

Barack Obama, the 44^th President of these United States,

His family and his administration.

He has come to this high office at a low moment

In the national and indeed the global fiscal climate.

But because we know

You got the whole world in your hands,

We pray for not only our own nation

But for the community of Nations.

Our faith does not shrink

Though pressed by the flood of mortal ills,

For we know that , Lord, you're able

And you're willing

To work through faithful leadership

To restore stability

Mend our broken-ness

Heal our wounds

And deliver us

From the exploitation of the poor of the least of these and

From favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering

Of thy servant our 44^th President

To inspire our nation to believe:

Yes, we can work together

To achieve a more perfect nation.

And while we sown the seed of greed,

The wind of greed and corruption.

And even as we reap the whirlwind

of social and economic disruption,

We seek forgiveness,

And we come in the spirit of unity and solidarity

To commit support to our president

By our willingness to make sacrifices,

To respect your creation,

To turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations

Help us to make choices

on the side of Love not hate,

on the side of inclusion and not exclusion

tolerance not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountain top help us to hold onto

The spirit of fellowship

And the oneness of our family.

Let us take that power back to our homes,

Our work places, our churches, our mosks ,

Where ever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle.

Look over our little angelic Sasha, and Meleea.

We go to walk together, children,

Pledging that we won't get weary

In the difficult days ahead.

We know you will not leave us alone,

With your hands of power,

And you heart of love.

Help us live now, lord, to work for that day

When nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

When tanks will be beaten into tractors,

When every man and every woman shall sit down

Under his or her own vine and fig tree

And none shall be afraid,

When justice will roll down like water and

Righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in memory of all the saints who from their labors rest,

And in the joy of a new beginning.

We ask you to help us work for that day:

When Black will not be ask to give back;

When Yellow will be mellow;

When the Red Man can get ahead man;

And When White will embrace what is right;

That all those who do justice and love mercy shall say:

Amen (crowd) Amen

Say amen

(crowd) Amen

And amen

(Crowd) Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing With Angels Jed Harr a Flyer

Because of Jed's righteousness he deserves to have angels surrounding him while he plays. The other team players may not pass him the ball but angels open many opportunities for him to make his team the winners. Jed was beautiful to watch!

I prayed for Angels to be surrounding Jed as he played basketball last night. The Dixie Flyers were up to 12 points before the other team scored one. When the score was 17 to 4 Flyers ahead, Jed fell backward and the back of his head was cut open. Marta first to be by Jed's side, Brad, a dad of a team player #21 who was a doctor, and the team health lady, cut his hair and put sterile strips over the jagged gash to close it up. While he was out his team hardly scored any points.

This week he had come home in tears in how some of the leading players on his team treated him. They do not pass the ball to him. But his defense against that other team was magnificent. The other team got one 3 point shot---not in Jed's territory and one free throw while he was playing the first quarter.

While Jed was out his own team hardly scored but they were already so far ahead. Jed was back in the game as soon as his head was all taped up. Because of his ability to get the ball from the other team back to his team by the end every kid on the bench got to play.

Yea Jed!

It is Wondrous What A Hug can DO !

It is Wondrous What A Hug can Do!

It's wondrous what a hug can do.

A hug can cheer you when you're blue.

A hug can say "I love you so."
Or "Gee, I hate to see you go."
A hug is "Welcome back again,"
"Great to see you! Where've you been?"
A hug can smooth a small child's pain,
And bring a rainbow after rain.
The hug! There's just no doubt about it,
We scarcely could survive without it!
A hug delights and warms and charms.
It must be why God gave us arms.
Hugs are great for fathers and mothers,
Sweet for sisters, swell for brothers.
And chances are your favorite aunts
Love them more than potted plants.
Kittens crave them. Puppies love them.
Heads of state are not above them.
A hug can break the language barrier,
And make your travels so much merrier.
No need to fret about your store of'em:
The more you give the more there's of'em:
So stretch those arms without delay,
And Give someone A Hug Today!!!

-Dean Walley

January 6,2009
Today my friend Yvonne Bent and I visited Denver Snuffer. It was amazing that he recongnized the pattern of the atom He related the pattern to what he already knew to be truth.
In the new Dr. Suess DVD Horton Hears a Who there is a Kangargoo who says " If you can't see it or hear it or feel it it doesn't exist." This is science today. If you cannot measure it, its doesn't exist. Yet Horton can hear the whos and must help them and carry their unseeable speck to the top of the mountain. The Kangargoo does all she can to stop this from happening and allthe whos must make noise so they can be heard. It requires everyone working together (Zion). At the last moment before they will be destroyed they are heard by the baby Roo.

Einstein would not give into the belief that probablity existed in the universe. To his last moment he worked to find the exacting order that he firmly believed existed. Science casts him out as losing touch with science but Helen's Exacting order of electrons establishes the truth of his belief.

Our Heavenly Father organized this earth according to existing laws in his eternities. This exacting order is a testment of his creation; of his laws and order. This physical world bears testimony of God the Eternal Father, of His Son, Jesus Christ and of the Holy Ghost. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God's organization of his plan for his children on the earth to return to his presence.

Giants Disappear as You go forth in Faith


Giants Disappear as You go forth in Faith
I had a dream early this morning that I was in a long race. There was time enough to stop and eat and get refreshed and go again. I did not feel alone but I’m not sure who else was in the race. I could see from another perspective that there was a group gathering vicious dogs that they planned on putting in my way to stop my progress. I was aware of the dogs but as I proceed in the race I never did encounter them.
It seemed as I woke that they obstacles (dogs) had been removed from my path before I reached them. It says in Katie’s patriarchal blessing that obstacles will be removed from her path without her even being aware of them. What is the exact working Katie? Anyway this happened to me in this dream. If we trust in the Lord we will be watched over.
Miracle for today. Bode’s belirubim was so high last week(6.4) that the doctor’s office said to take him to Primary Children’s Hospital to have an ultrasound to check his liver, gallbladder, and kidneys. He was given a blessing by his dad Cliff and we all prayed for him for the next few days. The ultrasound showed everything working great. Keri took him in for another blood test yesterday-Tues. today we got word his belirubin is down to 2.4. He is healthy and well. Seth’s doesn’t have to wear his patch for several months because his eye has improved so much.
Dear God, Thanks for the Blessings!!!

Trusting in the Lord

Trusting in the Lord is a constant need to me. I have been working on ridding myself from pride-all four boxes.
Box 1 considering myself Better - than some else
Box 2 considering myself Less -Than some else
Box 3 feeling like I deserve something
Box 4 I must be seen as ________________
There is definitely a sense of low self-esteem connected with having pride with comparing yourself with someone else and holding yourself up as Better Than. Really the inner feeling is one of not being of value to God. If we could all feel of worth to God we would not try and use pride to give us false self worth.
Each of us here on the earth right now must have been saved to be here now. John the beloved Apostle desired to stay on the earth until the second coming. I wonder if my life has purpose. I want to believe that it does. I need a reason to be here today. We are not defined by our church calling. Position can not be what makes one of worth to God. It seems all most daily someone with position in the church seems to send the message " I am important what do you do?"
Pres. Hinckley never sent that message. Pres. Boyd K Packer spoke of it last conference.
That every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world;
“That faith also might increase in the earth;
“That mine everlasting covenant might be established;
“That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers.
President J. Reuben Clark Jr. said: “In the service of the Lord, it is not where you serve but how. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one takes the place to which one is duly called, which place one neither seeks nor declines” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1951, 154). The Chu
Everything that is done in the Church—the leading, the teaching, the calling, the ordaining, the praying, the singing, the preparation of the sacrament, the counseling, and everything else—is done by ordinary members, the “weak things of the world.”
There is the natural tendency to look at those who are sustained to presiding positions, to consider them to be higher and of more value in the Church or to their families than an ordinary member. Somehow we feel they are worth more to the Lord than are we. It just does not work that way!
It would be very disappointing to my wife and to me if we supposed any one of our children would think that we think we are of more worth to the family or to the Church than they are, or to think that one calling in the Church was esteemed over another or that any calling would be thought to be less important.
Recently, one of our sons was sustained as ward mission leader. His wife told us how thrilled he was with the call. It fits the very heavy demands of his work. He has the missionary spirit and will find good use for his Spanish, which he has kept polished from his missionary days. We also were very, very pleased at his call.
What my son and his wife are doing with their little children transcends anything they could do in the Church or out. No service could be more important to the Lord than the devotion they give to one another and to their little children. And so it is with all our other children. The ultimate end of all activity in the Church centers in the home and the family.
As General Authorities of the Church, we are just the same as you are, and you are just the same as we are. You have the same access to the powers of revelation for your families and for your work and for your callings as we do.
I need to trust God that what I do as a mother and a grandmother with the opportunities that are before me today are of worth to God.
Life of this earth must be of worth. There must be something of value to God that I can do today.
Get off my shoulder Satan who is whispering that I do not count. The Devil will rage in the hearts of men. He tries to make me feel that I have no worth.
Please God help me believe I am good. Not Better than or Less -Than but a granny of God with purpose.

Bode

Bode Will be Given his Name and Blessing by his Dad Cliff Sunday Morning just after 9:00 am, joined by his extended family. It will be a special time.