While it’s been eight long years, today is not about looking back, it’s about looking forward. Despite the recent slights to the LGBT community, whether intended or not, I still have a great sense of hope and optimism as Barack Obama becomes our next president. The breadth and scope of the issues the new administration must face is daunting, but I am hopeful that this is the right team at the right time in history to address them.
On this momentous day, the people’s faith in government and what it can do has been restored. And as long as we remain vigilant and hold our leaders to their words, that faith will endure and as Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address, “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
While there’s plenty of buzz in the LGBT community about the slighting of Bishop Gene Robinson at yesterday’s inaugural festivities, let’s not forget how important this day is.
When we focus on the injustices, (which seems almost daily), we often forget all the positive steps forward the LGBT community has made as a whole, and on this of all days, we need be cognizant of that. Otherwise there really is is no hope.
It would serve our community well to remember some of Dr. King’s wise words…
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies – or else? The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
And of course…
“And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Every step forward, no matter how small, brings us closer to Martin Luther King’s dream. Let us not forget that.
Sadly, the invocation prayer by Bishop Gene Robinson was not aired on the HBO-only broadcast of today’s inaugural kickoff and concert. HBO instead cut into the proceedings after the invocation and a short break.
Update #1: It also appears that Robinson’s mic was off for the bulk of the prayer.
I am really surprised and disheartened at HBO’s lack of sensitivity, particularly in view of recent events like the passing of Proposition 8 and the choosing of Rick Warren to deliver the opening prayer of the inauguration. I know many were looking forward to Bishop Gene Robinson’s words, both religious and not. It added balance to the Warren pick, and also served as an example of the inclusiveness that Obama so often talks about.
Update #2: A video of Robinson’s prayer has fortunately surfaced on YouTube. It’s clear his mic was working (despite earlier reports). Perhaps there were issues with the speakers farther away from the stage. HBO also indicated via email this morning that the decision to exclude the prayer was made by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, and not HBO. Very, very unfortunate.
Update #3: The Obama camp responds: “We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson’s invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday’s program. We regret the error in executing this plan – but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event.” — PIC communications director Josh Earnest
Update # 4 (final?): The entire program, including Bishop Gene Robinson’s invocation, will be shown on the jumbo screens on the Mall tomorrow to entertain the assembled crowd, according to a source for politico.com. Is it too little too late? Or has the damage already been done?
A transcript of Robinson’s prayer below…
A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama
By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
“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.”
While the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C. did make an appearance (and they sounded wonderful), they were neither credited or included in the finale.
In 2005 Reverend Rick Warren gave a speech to a stadium full of his followers where he describes his vision for the future:
“What is the the vision for the next 25 years? I’ll tell you what it is. It is the global expansion of the kingdom of God. It is the total mobilization of the church. And the third part is the dream of a radical devotion of every believer.”
Warren later goes on to compare this “radical devotion” to the that of the Hitler youth, and the followers of Lenin and Mao, and what they were almost able to accomplish. Warren then urges his followers to adopt a “what ever it takes” approach because only radicals “change the world.”
Listen to the clip below…
How does he want change the world? Create a global theocracy? Sounds suspiciously like Muslim fundamentalism (surprise). Scary stuff.
Sadly, the invocation prayer by Bishop Gene Robinson was not aired on the HBO-only broadcast of today’s inaugural kickoff and concert. HBO instead cut into the proceedings after the invocation and a short break.