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Pepperdine Community Observes National Day of Prayer

The National Day of Prayer is an annual day of observance on which Americans of all faiths are invited to pray for the nation. Created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, it was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman and occurs on the first Thursday of May every year.

On this page, members of the Pepperdine community share their personal prayers for the country. Please of your own.

Heavenly Father, we come to you today, on this National Day of Prayer, in humility, recognizing that we all too often fall short in stewarding the many blessings and resources you have given us. As we reflect today on the state of our economy, the numerous conflicts around the world, and the many people who daily live in abject poverty with no access to proper health care or even clean water, we turn to you for the wisdom, strength, and courage to use the gifts you have given us to serve you through our care and concern for others. May we be your hands and your feet each day in our work, in our play, and in our service to others that you will be glorified and that others will see your love and mercy through us. May you be gracious to us and bless us, make your face shine upon us, and give us peace. Amen.

Linda Livingstone
dean, Graziadio School of Business and Management

Lord, let the unity we observe in prayer today reflect and inspire the greater unity we seek to achieve in each of our communities. Help us connect to one another through our similarities and find blessings in our differences. Remind us of your forgiveness, compassion, wisdom, and courage, that we may embody these qualities as we move forward together through this time of uncertainty into a period of peace and hope.

Katy Yasick ('12)
International Business and International Studies major

May the G-d of all humankind and all living things give us the judgment and compassion to promote peace and freedom for all people, especially those who are without the power to secure those blessings for themselves. May the Lord give us the strength and courage to see that justice is done to others as we would expect it to be done to ourselves, and may we never surrender our commitment to equality of treatment in the face of our petty bigotries or the temptations of self-interest. May we seek to repair the world with inspiration and perspiration, and with love. Finally, may we pray as if everything depends on G-d, but act as if everything depends on us. Amen.

Judge Bruce Einhorn
adjunct professor of law and director, Asylum Clinic

Help us capture the spirit of education. Help us to help each student feel better about him or herself, and see who he or she is capable of becoming. Encourage us to uplift each student's spirits and expectations, and to call forth each student's potential talent and ability to be inquisitive and independent and ethical by simple acts of human decency. Let us give a smile, a kind word, a compassionate expression, an empathetic tone, an encouraging touch that says "I notice you, I believe in you, I have high hopes for you, I have faith in you. I care." Help us to honor you by being a good teacher.

We ask that you hear our prayer as each of us may pray to you in our own special way and in our own language. For there is no language that you do not understand and in your eyes all people are your children.

Jeff Banks
visiting professor of humanities and teacher education and director, Social Action and Justice Colloquium

Dear Lord, I pray for opportunity. I pray you invest in students' lives by giving them mentor examples to strive to be like. I pray for individuality and for investment of individual talents and passions in order for them to flourish. Finally, I pray you combine these, giving students mentor examples to challenge them to express their unique talents and provide them with opportunity. Thank you.

Kimberly Amundson ('10)
Nutritional Science major

Today is a new beginning...a fresh start. Thank you for the opportunity to be alive; to serve others; and to find humor in the often undetected celebrations of the day. Show us the way: to breathe through the busyness, to stop and listen amidst the rush of decisions, and to sigh during the moments when we have forgotten Your presence. Give us the humility to lead, a sense of humor when we fail, and the grace to forgive others and to see their perspective. Help us to remember those who have been forgotten in our community, those who are often invisible, and teach us the courage to act upon these convictions.

Larisa Hamada
director, Equal Opportunity

During this time of prayer, I ask G-d that He might provide:
- Strength to those who cannot find their own
- Wisdom to those who only seek to blame or who cannot find their way
- Love to those in search of fellowship
- Peace to those whose lives are in chaos or whose idealism blinds their
ability to see goodness in others
- Understanding to those whose clarity is elusive
- Health to those whose bodies are frail and tired
- Life to those whose souls will be welcome additions to their families
- Shelter and compassion to us all, even those who would not want it

Andrea Gillie Harris
senior director, Student Administrative Services

May we as students, faculty, staff, and administrators fully understand what we were created to become, and may we see our purpose as always reflecting the character God in whatever we set our hands and hearts to do. Let us see everyone as a son and daughter of God, and even more so let us care for them as that which they are as well. Fill us with your love so that we can show it everyday.

Hunter Stanfield ('09)
Business Administration major

Dear God, I pray to you that you lead our graduates into a life of stewardship, where they will pursue a life of purpose and service to others. Give them the strength and guidance so that they keep this end in mind, and at the same time they are able to praise you throughout their journey. Let them understand and accept the journey that you have set for them, and to appreciate the importance of the journey and not the end destination. In stewardship, let them use their talents and treasures so that they always give off the top and not what is left over, and focus on giving and not on receiving. Thanks again dear Lord for all your blessing.

Luisa Blanco
Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy

May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease
when a great peace will embrace the whole world

Then nation shall not threaten nation
and humankind will not again know war.

For all who live on earth shall realize
we have not come into being to hate or destroy

We have come into being
to praise, to labour and to love.

Compassionate God, bless all the leaders of all nations
with the power of compassion.

Fulfill the promise conveyed in Scripture:

"I will bring peace to the land,
and you shall lie down and no one shall terrify you.
I will rid the land of vicious beasts
and it shall not be ravaged by war."

Let love and justice flow like a mighty stream.
Let peace fill the earth as the waters fill the sea.

Attributed to Rabbi Nachman, (1773-1810)

Nancy Harding
associate professor, Graduate School of Education and Psychology

Dear Jesus,

I come to you to ask you, not only for this nation but for all the world that you created with your own hands, forgive us for what we have done in our sin. Come to our hearts and have mercy on us.

Please Lord, I ask for our President of Pepperdine to have wisdom, to lead our students and all workers.

Thank you, my Lord Jesus.

In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Arvin M Moreno
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