Barack Obama spoke at Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast. He surveyed his personal faith and highlighted the place of prayer in his daily practices.Mr. Obama is accused by many of being a stealth Muslim, an absurd, factless accusation. For twenty years, before becoming President, he attended Trinity United Church of Christ congregation on Chicago's South Side. The church and minister, Jeremiah Wright, preached and practiced a Black Liberation Theology. Both came under scrutiny during the 2008 campaign. Wright retired. The Obama's resigned their membership.
In Washington the Obama's have infrequently attended Sunday services, favoring no one church. He has essentially privatized his spiritual life with personal prayer being at the center. His remarks seemed to allude to the criticisms that some have made: "My Christian faith then has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years. All the more so, when Michelle and I hear our faith questioned from time to time, we are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us but whether we're being true to our conscience and true to our God. 'Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.'"
He belongs to the ever growing group of Americans categorized as "non affiliated."
But he prays every day, in the morning and in the night. "When I wake in the morning, I wait on the Lord, and I ask Him to give me the strength to do right by our country and its people. And when I go to bed at night I wait on the Lord, and I ask Him to forgive me my sins, and look after my family and the American people, and make me an instrument of His will."
His prayers generally embrace one of three themes:
- "I pray for my ability to help those who are struggling."
- "[A] second recurring theme in my prayers is a prayer for humility."
- "And the last recurring theme, one that binds all prayers together, is that I might walk closer with God and make that walk my first and most important task."
He cogently summarized his prayer life: "I say these prayers hoping they will be answered, and I say these prayers knowing that I must work and must sacrifice and must serve to see them answered. But I also say these prayers knowing that the act of prayer itself is a source of strength. It’s a reminder that our time on Earth is not just about us; that when we open ourselves to the possibility that God might have a larger purpose for our lives, there’s a chance that somehow, in ways that we may never fully know, God will use us well."
In my estimation, relative to traditional Christian piety, Mr. Obama's witness of his private devotional life is intimate and inspiring. Any Christian could model their prayer life after his.
What I find worthy of deeper cultural consideration is his privatization of spirituality, that he belongs to the "non-affiliated." This places him on a religious/cultural cutting edge.
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