The three congressmen…distributed to all 435 members of the House of Representatives a book titled Obama Prayer: Prayer for the 44th President, by Charles Garriott, who ministers to those in the federal government through Mission to North America, an arm of the Presbyterian Church in America.

At the National Prayer Breakfast in February, President Obama noted that his friend Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., prays for him. “It’s comforting to know people are praying for you who don’t always agree with you,” he said. “Even though we are on opposite sides of a whole bunch of issues, part of what has bound us together is a shared faith, a recognition that we pray to and serve the same God.”

But the conversations between Capitol Hill and the White House haven’t been so lovey-dovey this year. Instead, the acrimony has been tangible. Wednesday, for example, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said Obama was making arguments that were “intellectually lazy.” (See “‘Disappointed,’” Oct. 26.)

For the president, there’s no love lost with Republicans: He has said in recent speeches that the GOP plan for the economy is to have “less people with health insurance.”

But this week, a freshman Republican and two Democrats dissipated a little of the acrimony. The three congressmen—Reps. Dan Boren, D-Okla., Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., and James Lankford, R-Okla.—distributed to all 435 members of the House of Representatives a book titled Obama Prayer: Prayer for the 44th President, by Charles Garriott, who ministers to those in the federal government through Mission to North America, an arm of the Presbyterian Church in America.

The congressmen included a letter with each book, where they wrote, “All of us who have served our nation as members of the House understand the place and significance of prayer. Over the years we have prayed for presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. and Jr.” They added that the book is “a means of encouraging specific and thoughtful prayer for President Barack Obama.”

Lankford said, “We’ll pray for those in authority … when we line up in the same party. That’s not the biblical mandate. He added that Christians should “pray for the president, no matter who he is.”

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