Benediction as prophetic oracle, personal story, poltical statement…and prayer

One of the longest Benedictions I've ever heard. A complex text of human experience, personal story, national history, biblical faith and political hope. A day when the world was watching and listening, Rev Joseph Lowery a veteran civil rights campaigner, offered prayer on the high balcony of Capitol Hill, America's public architecture of power, partially reconstructed in the 1850's using slave labour. It was a day when inner attitudes went through tectonic shifts. And as I listened to this long Benediction, part confession, part eulogy, part prophetic oracle, and all transparently and unembarrassedly prayed, as a citizen of the world and a human being, I sensed again the importance of hope as a moral stance. And I cried and laughed for sheer pleasure that a prayer could say so much – not only the words, but the human life of the one who spoke it, and the multi-millions of lives on whose behalf he prayed.

There's already been criticism of the comment about "white will embrace what is right". And I think I understand the sensitivities of those hurt by this singling out of one human colour for moral censure – especially the thousands of white civil rights campaigners who walked alongside Rev Lowery and others down through the decades. That's why I think it has to be read and heard as a complex text; the long and bitter experience of the man who prayed, the history of a nation, and the miracle of hoped for and long in coming change, is reflected in a prayer personal, political, prophetic, and reflecting the very tensions that made the day fraught with possibility.  

The text has been released by the Federal News Service, and I was glad to read it again – but it's nothing without the quiet defiant hopefulness of the Rev Lowery's gruff, at times breaking, but affirmative voice. So you can also see and hear it over at You Tube.

……………………..

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has
brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us
into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet
stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts,
drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy
hand may we forever stand — true to thee, O God, and true to our
native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this
day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack
Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his
administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the
national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know
you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation,
but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though
pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you're able and you're willing to work
through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness,
heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the
least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president,
to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to
achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed
— the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind
of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a
spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president
by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to
turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to
make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion,
not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit
of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power
back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our
mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won't get
weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone,
with your hands of power and your heart of love.

Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors,
when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and
fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like
waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest,
and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that
day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick
around — (laughter) — when yellow will be mellow — (laughter) —
when the red man can get ahead, man — (laughter) — and when white
will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen —

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: — and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)