Let Us Pray:
Almighty God, Our Father, everything we see and everything we can't see exists because of You alone. It all comes from You, it all belongs to You, it all exists for Your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, 'Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one' and You are the compassionate and merciful one and You are loving to everyone You have made.
Now today we rejoice not only in America's peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African Immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.
Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us oh God, to remember that we are Americans. United not by race or religion or by blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches and civility in our attitudes--even when we differ.
Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations, and all people will stand accountable before You. We now commit our new president and his wife Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.
I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life--Yeshua, Esa, Jesus, Jesus--who taught us to pray:
Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
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A tradition, habit or relatively new positive endorsement of such an important democratic institutional change / reinstatement of the presidency has /is provided benediction(s). If securalist or religious is not as important as inclusively acknowledging the moment positively. Either side competing can be divisionist or inclusive depending on your perspective. I reverently accept we are spiritually equal.
Different Paths.
What I wrote is not "my" belief. It is apparent that you have never studied the different religions to note that these gods are not the same. Some worship cows as their god. Are you then saying that my God, God Almighty, is a cow also. Buddah is not God Almighty nor Jesus. Buddah's bones lie in his tomb; so does Mohammad. So how do you arrive at your conclusion then?
The benediction was wonderful, and as a Catholic, I have to say it was nice to see the words in our hearts spoken by another with the same passion for equal justice for all and greatest faith in God.
I have no problem with Rick Warren praying in the name of Jesus (or Yeshua, or whatever). I have no problem with anyone else praying to whomever they want, either. I *DO*, however, have a problem with having a violation of the US Constitution at the presidential inauguration. America was founded on the principle of Separation of Church and State. A great many of our ancestors came to this land seeking religious freedom. But that freedom will never truly be complete as long as the government continues to endorse one specific religion, for in doing so it automatically marginalizes and oppresses all those who do not subscribe to that religion. What an ironic contradiction, to follow Obama's inclusive inaugural address (he even mentioned non-believers!) with such an explicit reminder that this country is still ruled by followers of Jesus, leaving the non-Christian minority uncomfortable, wary, and left out.
Well, you have it backward.
"Get government out of my Jesus" was the part of the 1st amendment you chose to forget -- prohibiting the free-exercise thereof in public. Thomas Jefferson writes: Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their "legislature" should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State.
And the saga goes on ---
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