Rick Warren from Saddleback Church in California, prayed this morning at Barack Obama’s Inauguration. He prayed some really good stuff. Here’s a vid of the prayer:
(h/t JT’s blog – warning lots of stupid comments!) EDIT: Mark Driscoll has some good stuff to say. Here’s the transcript:
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, O 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 a 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, O God, to remember that we are Americans–united not by race or religion or 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, ‘Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], 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.
I think it was a pretty good prayer. And it was in the name of Jesus, not some faceless ‘God’.
here’s some good gear from MD’s blog:
http://theresurgence.com/rick_warrens_prayer
got a book on islam that i’ll read when i get back – one chapter is ‘why ‘Isa isn’t the same as Jesus’. i wonder if Warren’s read that chapter.
any thoughts on Gene Robinson’s prayer (i’m in the bush, a bit out of touch)?
just saw it here.
if you’re interested.
yeah interesting stuff on the Isa thing. there were some comments on JT’s blog saying similar to what you’ve just said. i’ll be interested to hear your thoughts after further reading.
as far as GR’s prayer (btw thanks 4 linking to it) – he prayed for some really good stuff. the first line is pretty ambiguous though: O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
It’s obviously consistent with his own theology.
i wonder whether kicking off a prayer to a god like that pretty much nullifies any of the good stuff he says later on??
what did you think?
yeah, generally i thought it was ok except for that line you said.
i also wonder whether among the persecution of refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, whether the latter ones are the biggest groups of people that suffer the worst kind of persecution and discrimination? why didn’t he pray for the falun gong members of whom there’s probably numerically more than gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender put together. is is because it’s a cult that’s wrong and is harmful to people? my point is just that there’s a lot of bad stuff, and his concern – indeed God’s concern as we see his righteous anger in the bible, is directed somewhat differently to GR’s prayer.
my other concern was the lack of mention of, um, what’s his name…. oh yeah, Jesus. i may post on my own on this later, but why do you reckon he didn’t get a single mention? – even the most nominal anglican would pray in Jesus’ name, surely.
there’s my morning thoughts anyway!
It’s important to note that in the official text of Mr Warren’s prayer on his church website only the first part of the Jewish SHEMA is in quotation marks – “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God”. The next phrase is printed as follows – The Lord is One, and You are the compassionate and Merciful One and You are loving to everyone You have made. This virtually Jesuitical phrasing was designed to infer that the Jewish ‘Lord and God’ is also the same ‘Lord and God’ of Islam and Christianity – NOT TRUE!
My full assessment of this prayer can be viewed on
http://www.takeheed.net/CurrentConcerns_2/Warren_inaugural_prayer.htm