When Rev. Dr. Luis Le?n delivers the benediction during President Obama's inauguration Monday, he says his message will focus on uniting a divided nation.
"My sense is that as a country we're not talking to each other," Le?n told ABC News. "We don't trust each other. We've forgotten that we have more that binds us together than separates us. My prayer is that we capture that sense of being one nation."
Rev. Le?n, an Episcopal priest at St. John's Church across from the White House in Washington, D.C., will do double duty on Inauguration Day. Leon will host President Obama for a prayer service before the inauguration as well as giving the benediction.
St. John's has held prayer services for American presidents on Inauguration Day eleven times. Franklin Roosevelt started the tradition.
"It doesn't get old," said Leon. "We've never had any bloodletting as one government passes the baton except maybe during the Civil War after Lincoln was elected."
The church has a special pew in the back commemorating the spot where Lincoln would sit when he attended services at St. John's. A plaque next to the pew says Lincoln always came alone and left before the service ended to walk back to the White House.
So how does a minister prepare for a presidential inauguration? Le?n has been at St. John's since 1994. He delivered the invocation for President George W. Bush's second inauguration in 2005, as U.S. troops were fighting wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We were all conscious of how many troops we had there," said Le?n. "We were beginning to feel divided then. I think it's gotten worse."
The word Le?n said he kept using during that invocation was "gratitude"-hoping to remind Americans to be thankful for the blessings they had, rather than dwelling on the nation's troubles.
Tune in to the ABC News.com Live page this morning starting at 9:30 a.m. EST for all-day live streaming video coverage of Inauguration 2013: Barack Obama. Live coverage will also be available on the ABC News iPad App and mobile devices.
Also ReadSource: http://news.yahoo.com/prayer-president-125700121--abc-news-politics.html
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