the prayer we missed

Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington , DC
January 18, 2009
Delivered by the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson:

"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."