Rick Warren's Invocation

I'm not a huge mega-church kinda girl. I love small services and intimate prayer. I love old hymns and choirs with little old ladies. So, I wasn't quite sure how to feel when I heard that Rick Warren was going to give the invocation at the inauguration.

Then I did a little research on Warren. It turns out he's quite a neat guy. Sure, some folks are angry about his stance on Prop 8 (he is anti-gay marriage.) But listen to this: Warren no longer takes a salary from Saddleback (his church in California). In addition, he's paid the church back for the salary that he was paid for the last 25 years and he now lives on 10% of his income (mostly earned though his book sales) and gives away 90% of his income. He calls it "reverse tithing". He's also created a plan calling for church-led efforts to tackle global poverty and disease as well as literacy and education around the world. It sounds like this Rick Warren guy is trying to live out his personal relationship with the Lord in a way that has a meaningful and real impact on not only his community in Lake Forest, California but the all around the world. So yeah....I guess I'm kind of becoming a Rick Warren fan.

So, in case you missed it yesterday, here's Rick Warren's invocation.

Let us pray,
Almighty God, our Father, everything we see and everything we can't see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you; it all belongs to you; it all exists for your glory. History is your story.
The scripture tells us, "Hear of Israel the Lord is our God the Lord is One ." And you are the compassionate and merciful one, and you are loving to everyone you have made.
Now today we rejoice not only in America's peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time; we celebrate a hinge point in history with the inauguration of our first African-American President of the United States .
We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership; and we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.
Give to our new President, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity.
Bless and protect him; his family, Vice President Biden, the cabinet and everyone of our freely elected leaders.
Help us oh God to remember that we are Americans united not by race or religion or blood but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all .
When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other when forget you--forgive us
when we presume that our greatness and prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.
And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes even when we differ.
Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. And may all people of good will join together together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a more peaceful planet and may we never forget that one day all nations and all people we will stand accountable before you.
We now commit our new President, and his wife Michelle, and his daughters Malia and Sasha into your loving care.
I humbly ask this in the name of the One who changed my life Yeshua, Esa, Gesus, Jesus--who taught us to pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen."