PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

President Barack Obama

January 20, 2009  

A prayer for our President, Nation and World

Invocation given by Bishop Gene Robinson to begin the Inaugural Weekend:

“O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears – tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless this nation with anger – anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.

Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.

Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.

And God, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for all people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.

Give him stirring words; We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand, that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace.

Amen.”

Obama Inauguration – Extraordinary!

The last few days, I’ve been glued to the TV set, wishing I were in freezing cold Washington, DC. Although I detest being cold, I would brave all the elements to be there at “this moment in time,” an unparalleled event in American history. As the US inaugurates an intelligent, truly exceptional man as president, people in the US and around the world are joining in the celebration. Seeing the enormous crowds of people gathering just so they can be present for the swearing in ceremony (viewed via jumbotron), it is thrilling to see the energy, enthusiasm, friendliness and joy being shared. Hope has become a tangible element.

Perhaps because I am so inundated with these positive images, a song I learned years ago came to mind as I was taking a very quick shower this morning. I suddenly realized these words were going through my head, words I’d sung in high school choir. How fitting for today!

The song (based on a poem my John Donne):
No man is an island
No man stands alone
Each man’s joy is joy to me
Each man’s grief is my own
We need one another
So I will defend
Each man as my brother
Each man as my friend.

Hopefully, this profound “oneness” and strong belief in “possiblity” being experienced today will be remembered, treasured and strengthened long after the last cluster of people has boarded the bus, train or metro to leave Washington, DC and return to their communities.

Go Obama. Yes we can. Yes we will. Yes WE ARE!