Relief Society General President Offers Prayer at the White House during National Day of Prayer
Contributed By Rachel Sterzer, Church News staff writer
Sister Jean B. Bingham, General President of the Relief Society, prays in the Rose Garden at the White House with Cissie Graham Lynch, granddaughter of the late Rev. Billy Graham, and Hindu priest Narayanachar Digalakote.
Sister Jean B. Bingham, Relief Society General President, asked Heavenly Father to help the United States become “a land of good Samaritans” while offering a prayer in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 3 in honor of the National Day of Prayer.
The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation.
In her prayer, Sister Bingham prayed for all those who work to improve lives. “May we become a land of ‘good Samaritans’ laboring in love to lift the hands of the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the afflicted.”
Sister Jean B. Bingham, General President of the Relief Society, prays in the Rose Garden at the White House with U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Lt. Col. Dawud Abdul-Aziz Agbere and Levi Shemtov, a Hasidic rabbi and leader of the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington.
Sister Bingham acknowledged the relative peace and prosperity enjoyed in this nation but asked Father in Heaven “to watch over those who are in harm’s way protecting our freedoms in the pursuit of happiness.”
She also acknowledged the need for individuals to improve. “Help us to find ways to understand and value one another, to work together in cooperation and selflessness rather than seek for personal gain, to satisfy vain ambitions, or to gratify pride. May we examine ourselves and become better individuals, thereby increasing the peace and happiness of each citizen in this United States of America.”
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, attended the prayer service during the first inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama. Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles offered a prayer at the interfaith service in 2017.
Levi Shemtov, a Hasidic rabbi and leader of the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington, prays at the National Day of Prayer event at the Rose Garden of the White House on Thursday, May 3, 2018. In the background are Cissie Graham Lynch, granddaughter of the late Rev. Billy Graham; Sister Jean B. Bingham, General President of the LDS Church’s Relief Society; U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Lt. Col. Dawud Abdul-Aziz Agbere; and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Washington.
