Posted on 12/20/2004 2:48:40 PM PST by velocityguy
Bush is first president to choose yule card with a Scripture
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
About 2 million friends and supporters of President Bush found something in their mailboxes this month that no other president has offered: A holiday card with a Bible verse.
This card has a line from Psalms, 95:2: "Let us come before him with Thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."
Presidents have been sending season's greetings since Calvin Coolidge wrote "Merry Christmas" on White House stationery in 1927. And many presidents issued proclamations about faith-related events varying from the National Day of Prayer to Ramadan.
But this administration is the first to include Scripture in the annual card, said Mary Evans Seeley, author of "Season's Greetings From the White House: The Collection of Presidential Christmas Cards, Messages and Gifts." Seeley and her husband have a complete collection of the presidential holiday cards.
First lady Laura Bush supervises the card selection. She picked cards with Bible verses when her husband was governor and has continued to do so in the White House.
This year's illustration is a painting of the Red Room of the White House by Cindi Holt, a Fort Worth, Texas, artist .
The Republican National Committee paid for production and distribution.
Only one previous president included an explicitly religious element in a card. In 1963, President Kennedy's card featured a photo of a creche set up in the East Room of the White House. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, had signed 30 cards before their final trip to Dallas.
None was ever mailed.
They just noticed? Last year's card also had a bible verse.
Didn't hillarity send out happy ramadan cards?
this man is dazzling.
thank you Father for ordaining him as our leader at this time. May You continue to protect him and his family and have mercy on our great nation.
That might even get the media to take a day off from the assault on Rumsfeld so they can freak out over how Bush is establishing a theocracy worse than the Taliban.
</too true to be sarcasm>
President Bush, I salute you! May the Lord bless you for proclaiming His Word.
JockoManning
Washington, DC - On Friday, November 28, over 1.5 million Christmas cards bearing a Crawford, Texas postmark will be mailed to friends and family of President and Mrs. Bush, as well as foreign dignitaries. This year's official White House Christmas card was designed by artist Barbara Ernst Prey of Oyster Bay, New York, and depicts the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.
The design is a watercolor painting of the fireplace and decorated mantle of the Diplomatic Reception Room during the holidays. The Diplomatic Reception Room served as the furnace room of the White House until 1902; it now serves as an entrance to the White House from the South Grounds for family and visiting dignitaries.
President and Mrs. Bush selected a Psalm and a message of peace for the message inside:
***"You have granted me life and loving kindness; and your care has preserved my spirit. Job 10:12 (NASB)***
May you celebrate the joys of faith, family and friendship this holiday season and always. 2003"
President and Mrs. Bush are very familiar with Prey's work - another one of her paintings is in their collection, on display in the Residence of the White House. The original watercolor painting for the Christmas card will be on display in the Booksellers area during the holiday season.
I'm glad that you took the time to put a sarcasm tag on your post becuase the MSM won't.
According to the article Bush was NOT the first president to choose a scripture for WH Christmas cards...just the FIRST to send them.
It made me kinda angry that he choose to say "Happy Holidays" in his Press Conference instead of Merry christmas.
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