I was skeptical of Warren's acceptance of Obama's invitation to pray at his inauguration. An inaugural invocation can easily be perceived as an endorsement. However, after watching the prayer, I think he did many things well...
--He quoted the Shema and the Lord's Prayer, both appropriate ecumenical picks, and invoked a wide swath of biblical imagery about the nature of God.
--His prayer was decidedly Christian, not statist (in either a conservative or a liberal direction).
--He acknowledged differences of opinion.
--He called for biblical character qualities like humility, servanthood, integrity, compassion, generosity, responsibility, and civility.
--He asked for forgiveness of sins, including for "when we fail to treat our fellow human beings ... with the respect that they deserve," which sounded to me like an appropriately veiled reference to abortion.
--He acknowledged that "one day, all nations and all people will stand accountable before you."
--He called on "the name of the one who changed my life -- Yeshua, Isa, Jesús, Jesus." Missiologically awesome! For those who don't know, that's Jesus in Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, and English.
--By saying nothing about "traditional values," he effectively turned the other cheek to gay rights activists who had been passionately calling for his removal from the ceremony.
In short, he was ecumenical yet evangelical, biblical, missiological, deferent, appropriate, and even mildly prophetic. May God answer this prayer and use it for his glory in the lives of its hearers.
(The full text of the prayer is available here.)
1 comment:
BEN KNOX! nice blog dewd..
I thought Warren did a bang up job too. Mentioning the name of Jesus, how controversial! haha
The African American pastor who prayed at the end was also very eloquent. And he provided the day with some much needed humor. Everyone was a little too uptight and full of themselves up until then.
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