We all know the inauguration happened this week. We also know that there were many events, galas, balls, service projects and concerts that took place. Do we know there was also prayer?

During these inaugural days three prayers were offered on the National Mall. What struck me about these prayers was that they were not only lifted up for President Barack Obama, his Administration, and his family. That is crucial. But, they each included a summons for me and for all of us to remember the task we share in fighting global poverty, hunger and disease. The prayers called us to act on behalf of our brothers and sister around the world, even while we are focused on our new president.

On Sunday, Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, began his prayer on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with a call for Americans to be “bless[ed] with tears, tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting education, and thousands die a day from malnutrition, malaria and AIDS”:

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, a ONE Sabbath supporter, gave the invocation Tuesday morning where he asked for forgiveness “when we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve.” He also prayed that Americans would seek “the common good of all” around the world in the years ahead:

Rev. Joseph Lowery, Civil Rights leader an co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, paraphrased the Books of Isaiah and Amos, calling each of us “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 under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream”:

As the inauguration days become a distant memory of an historic time, it is my hope that these three prayers will remain to remind and inspire all of us in the task we share in fighting global poverty, hunger, and disease.

-Adam Phillips