Presiding Bishop’s Closing Inaugural Prayer

(From the service leaflet for the prayer service at the National Cathedral.)

closing prayer

On this radiant day we give thanks to you, O God,

for the freedom to gather united in prayer.

Strengthen and sustain Barack, our President,

that in the days to come he may lead your people

with confidence and compassion.

Grant patience and perseverance to the people of this Nation.

With malice toward none, with charity for all,

may we strive to finish the work you have given us to do

that we may achieve a just and lasting peace.

In this time of new beginnings, new ventures, and new visions,

light in us the fire of justice, and the passion for forgiveness.

Give us the strength to hold fast to what is good

that we may go forth renewed and committed to make hope a reality.

Amen.

Inaugural Prayer Service at National Cathedral

You can watch the video HERE.  Click on the “On Demand Webcast” link.  The sermon begins around 40 minutes, followed by a spectacular rendition of Amazing Grace at 57 minutes.  You may get an error message.  It didn’t load for me until the third try.  I think the server is pretty busy right now.

Bishop Robinson Reflects on Inauguration Day

Bishop Gene Robinson posted a description of the fun he got to have yesterday. Here’s a paragraph from the end:

It is a new day in America, thanks be to God! I was overwhelmed all day by the sense that God is still alive and well and working overtime in our great nation, bringing about things that could have never even been dreamt of a few years ago. Join me in giving thanks to our great God for loving us as we are, and loving us too much to make us content with staying as we are.

Here’s the whole thing:

Wasn’t yesterday amazing?! A new day — for all of us. Here’s what it was like from my perspective.

Mark and I arrived at St. John’s Episcopal Church early in the morning. Waiting in the security line, I greeted Pastor Rick Warren, who couldn’t have been more gracious. Once inside, we were seated in the fifth row, with a perfect view of the service participants, and eventually, the President-Elect himself. This is not a man who fakes a faith, but one who is clearly motivated by it.

Dr. T. D. Jakes gave a magnificent sermon, based on the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, being thrown into the fiery furnace. Some of his points, on which he elaborated brilliantly: “there is no light without heat”; the three Hebrew boys were saved because they stood up! it’s time we ALL stood up for what is right and good; King Nebuchnezzar (sp?) turns the furnace up to seven times its normal heat, more than the furnace or its contents can bear — pointing out the ways in which the economy, war, health care, etc. have deteriorated beyond what we can bear; and finally, when the King looks into the furnace to see the boys’ destruction, instead, they are intact, and there is a FOURTH figure — the Spirit of God which has seen them through and preserved them. You can imagine the rest. It was SO powerful.

I met some wonderful people. Sat next to the new Securities and Commodities appointee, who later introduced me to the new Treasury Secretary and his wife. Oprah was there (sitting BEHIND us, I might add!). Most of the cabinet. Other denominational leaders. Read more »

Joseph Lowery Inaugural Prayer

He starts with lyrics from James Weldon Johnson’s spectacular Lift Every Voice and Sing. Rich with the images of the Biblical Prophets, the American Black Church Tradition and ending with a joke. This is a spectacular prayer.

Praise Song for the Day

WOW!

Obama to work for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights

Including a repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, which as a veteran, is a point of particular interest to me.

From the White House Web Site:

Support for the LGBT Community

“While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”– Barack Obama, June 1, 2007

• Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.
• Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees’ domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.
• Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.
• Repeal Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.
• Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.
• Promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma — too often tied to homophobia — that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.

Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. President Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.

Bishop Robinson’s Inaugural Prayer

It’s here on YouTube

By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
January 18, 2009

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.

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with 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 the 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.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs 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, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

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, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for 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 the 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 know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and 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.

Bishop Robinson Interview

This is so cool!

Bishop Robinson Interviewed About Inauguration

NPR interviewed Bisishop Gene Robinson about his selection to give the invocation at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday.   You can hear it HERE.

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson, has been chosen to deliver the invocation at Barack Obama’s kickoff inaugural event Sunday. Robinson says he doesn’t think Obama picked him to balance the selection of evangelical pastor Rick Warren, who angered gay-rights supporters with his support of the ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in California.

Being Gay is a Gift From God

Every once in a while somebody sums up a way of seeing things in such a succinct way it lands like a bombshell.  Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, did this on Oprah last week when he told a caller that the caller’s being gay was a gift from God.   What a powerful way of stating what we believe.  It’s not just that we will include (or worse, tolerate) gay people.  Sexuality that draws us into relationships of love with another person is a gift from God.  That includes homosexuality.

One of the things that is significant in this episode is the huge reaction that Father Ed has been receiving.  Not necessarily from Christians who are offended, that’s expected.  But rather from the many, many wounded people who hear an invitation to an open, loving church.  While we may believe being gay is a gift from God, and we may be vigilant in welcoming people who are gay or lesbian into the church, clearly there are many, many people who still need to hear this important message.

Here’s one of the many, many positive responses Fr. Ed got:

I just watched Rev. Bacon on the Oprah show and was moved to tears by his kindness and compassion. My father died of stomach cancer when I was 9 years old and on the day he died I stopped believing in God. The Reverends remarks about how God does not give diseases struck me at my very core and I am still crying as I type this. Moreover, his comments to the young gay gentleman were so incredibly kind and loving. I would like to reconnect with God. I live in New York City and was wondering if your church had a sister organization in NYC. I would like to find a Reverend and a church that shares Rev. Bacon’s approach to spirituality. Would you be able to recommend a church in New York City? Or perhaps how I may start to figure out how to find one?Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

How many people in our communities would like to reconnect w/ God but do not know that we would welcome them or they might find a spiritual home in our churches?  How can we do a better job of inviting them?

Here is a good summary article of Fr. Ed’s visit on Oprah.