Obama to Form Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Joshua DuBois is expected to lead the office.
Obama spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast at the Hilton Washington. Read his full remarks here.

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"I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose. "

Some of the council members:

WSJ: President Obama is announcing a new 25-member President's Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships on Thursday. The White House said about 15 people will be named on Thursday, including:

Diane Baillargeon, president and CEO of Seedco
Fred Davie, president of Public/Private Ventures
Pastor Joel Hunter, Northland Church
Vashti McKenzie, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Frank Page, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention
Eboo Patel, executive director, Interfaith Youth Core
Melissa Rogers, professor of religion and public policy at Wake Forest University Divinity School.
David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Judith N. Vredenburgh, president and chief executive officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters

National Prayer Service Washington Cathedral Jan. 21

Photo by Kwaku Alston part of the display and Manifest Hope DC art show

The National Prayer Service will focus on themes of tolerance, unity and understanding. It's intended to be an inclusive worship for all Americans. From PIC:

The National Prayer Service will include a traditional prayer for civil leaders, a prayer for the nation, a selection by the Washington, D.C.-based Children of the Gospel Children’s Choir, and, for the first time, feature a sermon delivered by a woman.

Reverend Samuel T. Lloyd III, Dean of the Washington National Cathedral, will welcome attendees to the event, followed by the invocation of Reverend John Bryon Chane, Episcopal Bishop of Washington.

Reverend Otis Moss Jr., Senior Pastor Emeritus, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio will provide the opening prayer, followed by a prayer for civil leaders delivered by Reverend Andy Stanley, Senior Pastor, North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, Georgia.

Scripture readings will be provided by Dr. Cynthia Hale, Senior Pastor, Ray of Hope Christian Church, Atlanta, Georgia as well as Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, New York City, and the Most Reverend Francisco Gonzalez, S.F., Auxiliary Bishop of Washington. Rabbi David Saperstein, Executive Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Washington, D.C., has been asked to deliver a psalm.

Responsive prayers given by six leaders will symbolize America’s traditions of religious tolerance and freedom:

—Dr. Ingrid Mattson, President, Islamic Society of North America, Hartford, CT
—Rev. Suzan Johnson-Cook, Senior Pastor, Bronx Christian Fellowship, New York City
—Rabbi Jerome Epstein, Director, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, New York City
—Rev. Carol Wade of the Washington National Cathedral
—Dr. Uma Mysorekar, President, Hindu Temple Society of North America, New York City
—Rev. Jim Wallis, President, Sojourners, Washington, D.C.
—Rabbi Haskal Lookstein, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurunm, New York City
—Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, Senior Pastor, Windsor Village United Methodist Church, Houston, TX

The service will conclude with a prayer for the nation delivered by Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C., followed by a closing prayer provided by Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schori, Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church USA and a benediction by the Reverend Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America

The Presidential Inaugural Committee previously announced that Sharon E. Watkins, General Minister and President, Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) will deliver the sermon. PIC