“Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” was an enormous gathering on the Mall in Washington, DC, on Sunday. Thousands of Christians from across the country gathered to worship the King of Kings, deliver patriotic speeches, and pray for our great nation ahead of our 250th birthday. The nonpartisan Freedom 250, which organized the event and is doing other 250th work, billed it as an effort to “solemnly rededicate our country as One Nation Under God.”

It was an event that, as NBC News put it, “supporters hail as a public affirmation of faith in America but critics view as an exclusionary display that blurs the line between religion and politics.”

Pardon me while I roll my eyes at the last part, coming as it does from the zealots of the Left’s varying pagan religions.

President Donald Trump delivered a recorded address in which he read from 2 Chronicles, recording Solomon’s dedication of the temple and his call for national repentance.

The Reverend Franklin Graham sounded a similar note, saying, “People have become lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God. America has become morally rotten, completely sick with sin, transgenderism, same-sex marriage, [and] opening women’s locker rooms to men.” Those things, he noted, “are just the tip of the iceberg.”

Vice President JD Vance addressed the crowd in a recorded message. “Defying predictions, the experts said that religion and faith were dying. Today, a wave of young Americans is returning to the pews, and we know that they’re looking for meaning, for authority, for direction, and of course, for closeness with God,” Vance said. “That should give all of us hope for our future together.”

Other Trump administration officials joined.

“On this day, two and a half centuries ago, our forefathers gathered for the second time in as many years for a national day of fasting and prayer,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “They knew that what they were trying to do had never been done before in human history, but with the dark storm clouds of war looming on the horizon, they did what Christians have always done across place and time for 2000 years. They turned their eyes to heaven and placed their faith in the hands of God.”

He continued, “This is who we are. It is who we have always been. America is still a young nation, measured against the record of history, and from the beginning, we have carried the belief that our country represents something new in the world, but the soul of our nation has always been rooted in an ancient faith.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth pointed to our first president, George Washington. “We know the painting of him at Valley Forge — one hangs in my office — kneeling in the deep snow, his hat and sword nearby, Washington bows his head,” Hegseth said. “Amid all the bleak nights, the loss and despair, the lack of proper support, George Washington performed a profound act. He prayed, and on this day of Rededicate 250, let us follow George Washington’s example. Let us pray as he did. Let us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee, and let us ask our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as Washington did on that momentous day, ‘so help us God.’ May God bless you, and may God continue to bless our great Republic.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson prayed, “Our Founders acknowledged and boldly proclaimed the self-evident truth that every single person is created in your image, and that we are endowed by you, our Creator, with our unalienable rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” He added, “Today, here, Lord, in this 250th year of American independence, we hereby rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God. Look upon us with favor, upon your country, as we celebrate this momentous anniversary, and let your Holy Spirit descend upon this land, so that future generations will look back at this day in this present age and once again see your providential hand at work. I ask this today, Lord. I pray it, and I believe it in your holy name, in Jesus’s name, Amen.”

Numerous other politicians, officials, and celebrities — including Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen” — spoke.

Obviously, it will take more than a one-day event to truly change the trajectory of our country. Yet this was a heartening event, full of people putting their focus exactly where it belongs — on the Creator who endowed us with unalienable rights and who ultimately governs the affairs of men.

And for anyone wondering about God’s place in our nation and culture, John Adams remarked in 1798, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

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