President Obama prays with religious leaders at the 2014 White House Easter Prayer Breakfast.
Religious leaders gathered at the White House this past weekend for the sixth annual White House Easter Prayer Breakfast, at which the President and Vice President shared remarks, singer Amy Grant sang a song, and Rev. Dr. Amy Butler gave the opening prayer.
Other Christian leaders who were present at the breakfast include Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Reverend Al Sharpton, a Baptist minister and a White House adviser.
"For me, the celebration of Easter puts our earthly concerns into perspective," President Obama said.
"With humility and with awe, we give thanks to the extraordinary sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Savior," the President continued. "We reflect on the brutal pain that He suffered, the scorn that He absorbed, the sins that He bore, this extraordinary gift of salvation that He gave to us. And we try, as best we can, to comprehend the darkness that He endured so that we might receive God's light."
"And yet, even as we grapple with the sheer enormity of Jesus's sacrifice, on Easter we can't lose sight of the fact that the story didn't end on Friday. The story keeps on going. On Sunday comes the glorious Resurrection of our Savior," he added.
President Obama also encouraged individuals to "serve 'the least of these' as an expression of Christ's love here on Earth."
"Isn't that how Jesus lived? Isn't that how He loved?" President Obama said. "Embracing those who were different; serving the marginalized; humbling Himself to the last. This is the example we are called to follow -- to love Him with all our hearts and mind and soul, and to love our neighbors -- all of our neighbors -- as ourselves. As it says in the first letter of John, 'Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.'"
Numerous media sources criticized President Obama for a remark that seemed to criticize Christians, when he said, "On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love. And I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less than loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned. But that's a topic for another day."
Obama added at the conclusion of his remarks that he himself "fall[s] short so often."
"I pray that we will live up to His example. I pray that I will live up to His example. I fall short so often. Every day I try to do better. I pray that we will be strengthened by His eternal love. I pray that we will be worthy of His many blessings," he concluded.
Full remarks from the President and Vice President can be found here.
