Today, I invite you to pray with me the words that were prayed yesterday at the gubernatorial inauguration.
~Cristina
Invocation by Bishop Donte L. Hickman, Sr., Pastor of Southern Baptist Church, Baltimore
on the occasion of the Inauguration of the 63rd Governor of the State of Maryland
O Lord Our God, how excellent is your name in all the earth!
How we thank you for life, health and strength,
and for things being as well as they are.
And we thank you for giving us this beautiful day
to witness this historical and transformational occasion:
to inaugurate, consecrate and celebrate Wes Moore and Aruna Miller
as the new Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the State of Maryland.
We’re so grateful for how you’ve blessed our state.
You’ve blessed us with more good than bad,
more unity than division,
more opportunity than obstruction.
And now you’ve blessed us with more:
Wes Moore.
Thank you for the content of his character.
Thank you for the clarity of his mind
and the quality of his spirit.
And we thank you for blessing us with Aruna Miller.
Thank you for her authenticity, her consistency,
and her vibrancy and vitality
of heart, mind and spirit.
And now we ask that you would undergird them
as they lead, lift, legislate
and leave no one behind.
Dispatch your angels to cover the Governor and the First Lady Dawn Moore,
their children and their family.
Cover the Lieutenant Governor and her husband David Miller,
their children and their family.
Protect them from all harm and danger.
Direct them in your wisdom and in your love.
Correct them by your grace and your mercy.
May their years in service be filled
with more blessing than stressing
and more success than mess.
And now Lord, so many Marylanders have been inspired
by the ideas and the ideals of Wes Moore.
We admire his courage, his charisma and his collaborative spirit.
And so we thank you for giving him the victory of the vote.
But now we ask that you would give him the victory of his vision!
Give him the victory to improve educational, environmental,
economical and ecological
systems of our state
so that no one is left behind.
You paved the way through liberationists like Harriet Tubman.
You paved the way through astronomists like Benjamin Banneker.
You paved the way through abolitionists like Frederick Douglass,
through jurists like Thurgood Marshall
through activists like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Now guard and guide Wes Moore and Aruna Miller
as they strive to make Maryland the leading state
for opportunity, equity, diversity, dignity, safety and prosperity for all.
We give you praise in advance for all the successes of this administration.
We give you praise in advance in the face of our spiritual adversary
whose adversity couldn’t stop this opportunity.
We give you praise on these steps of the State Capitol
that undocumented enslaved hands built
so that we could lift as we climb.
We praise you because we know
that the steps of a good man and a good woman
are ordered by the Lord.
We praise you because we know
no weapon formed against you
shall be able to prosper.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and forever.
We pray this prayer to you collectively from our respective faith traditions and convictions.
And I pray this prayer in the name of the one who saved my soul,
in the name of the one who made me whole, Jesus Christ.
Amen! Hallelujah! Glory to God!
Click here to view more of yesterday’s inauguration festivities.