Childish Ways

The Rev. Rick Warren's much anticipated invocation at yesterday's inauguration concluded with reference to Jesus not once but four times: "...in the name of Yeshua, Issa, Jesus, Jesus." These Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, and English renditions bowed to the diversity of Christians, yet failed the world religion inclusivity test. In the end he was true to his Evangelical worldview.

In his Inauguration Speech Mr. Obama said, "We know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers."

In my estimation we have a long way to go to fulfill Mr. Obama's broader vision. I write this as I watch a Wednesday morning National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral. The words and songs, not unexpectedly, are taken from the Jewish-Christian tradition.

I reflect on Scriptural words that Mr. Obama incorporated into his Inauguration Speech, that it is time to give up childish ways. A narrow religious outlook, that fails to embrace pluralism of belief and non-belief, relatively speaking, is childish. It's childish relative to First Amendment rights and it's childish relative to the rich and yeasty faiths and philosophies we hold in dynamic community in the American experience.

An Invocation for We the People

When I'm asked to offer a public invocation, I'm sensitive to the many faiths and philosophies in the audience, as well at the overarching rubric of the separation of church and state. At political events, I'm particularly careful/mindful. A few years agoI delivered the following invocation at a Presidents' Day Gathering of DuPage Democrats. It made its way to the Internet and was used at other public events around the country.

An Invocation for We the People

We the People pause, as we do at events such as this,
So We the People might acknowledge, together,
deeper rhythms of our common life.

Some of us choose to pray, invoking a deity
Some of us choose to meditate or reflect,
invoking timeless ideals and universal
principles.

Some of us simply choose to keep a silence--
alone in our private chambers of thought--
listening, perhaps waiting for a Word.

We the People invoke God--the Nameless One of the Jewish 
tradition, the Incarnation of Jesus of the Christian faith,
Allah of Islam, Brahma in the many avatars of
Hinduism, the Buddha Spirit, the Goddess,
--all manifestations of the Divine realized by
persons of strong traditions and good intentions.

Or We the People invoke the Substances
behind the Forms we cherish: Love,
Humanity, Justice, Democracy, Sisterhood
and Brotherhood, Freedom, or Community.

Or We the People invoke, in our silence,
inner resources: reason, conscience, intuition,
inspiration, or imagination.

When We the People gather, as we gather now,
we gather under a Great Covenant:
Liberty for all and equality among us,
centered in an impartial Justice that edges
closer and closer to fairness and compassion.
When We the People gather, as we gather, now,
we join the faiths and philosophies that
sustain us separately and honor our Great
Covenant

In this expansive spirit, we pause, we invoke, we
recall, we dedicate,--now,--in this moment and
in this place:

Let there be humility for the bounties
we freely enjoy.
Let there be gratitude for the labor of those
who preceded us, as well as those who serve and keep us now.
And let there be hope for those who will
follow, for whom we prepare a way.
We the People seek these things
In our many voices and in our varied integrities.