The promise of hope is often tempered with despair and loneliness. We chose to stay away from the Inaugural for many reasons; I often asked what Barack Obama really stands for. Policey and belief beyond HOPE…
Today with only hours left my patriotism is tested, like the founding fathers I will put aside my fear and disappointment in a man, and pledge my life to our commander and chief.
Our journey has been a long one as a family; from standing at St Peter’s church and witnessing armageddon on September 11, 2001 to standing at the presidents home and seeing our names carved in marble among the greatest patriots of the nation, for the future. My pride at both moments was in the fact that I was never judged for who I choose to love or where I was born but for who I was at this moment. All men grow and change and today that is my hope….
The President elect was silent on gay rights issues through the campaign and then he asked a hate monger to give the invocation at his inaugural and still we held hope…
The constitution and bill of rights were written for all men and just as that is underscored on the world stage … I must ask the question when will prejudice ever end. The democrats’ talk of change but the real equality I have felt came from republicans. They didn’t always understand why I was gay but they judged me for my worth and not my being.
Today as we sculpted our Bi-Centennial Lincoln sculpture I was proud; we were sculpting for the future with hope. A man I think of as a brother, a part of my family was giving the opening prayer of the inaugural festivities. I couldn’t be prouder. Then HBO chose to eliminate Bishop Robinson from it’s broadcast to censure the first event of the inaugural and those in attendance missed Robinson’s prayer, as sound difficulties caused him to be inaudible to most of the estimated crowd of 500,000 gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial. they were also left in virtual silence as Bishop Robinson spoke, people tried to hear but the powers that be allowed his words to fall in silence…
Mr. President – elect as you know only to well right and justice always triumph in the words of Dr. King I have a dream…. We knew Correta Scott King and Rosa parks and they believed all men had the same rights under god… speak as they would and let bishop Robinsons words be heard … its been over 10 years since Mathew Shepard was crucified for being gay give his family rest and pass the laws that would end such hate… I have stood beside no truer or just man than Gene Robinson and as he gave me communion or a welcome family hug to us and our son, my heart was always a bit less that such a wonderful soul needed a bullet proof vest and security in a church through a mass… when my husband and I married we were threatened daily my son and mother also faced such hate and threats against our life … yes Mr. President I know hate, I have watched as good Christians lie to protect the status quo and feel no guilt because they lie against a homosexual…
You have faced world just like the one I have and like me face it daily, we are your sons and daughters you nieces and nephews we are your colleagues and neighbors… is it not time that we are your equals with the same rights our fore fathers gave to all men …
All I ask is a land where all are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain rights among these, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ….
Mr. President now is the last insult we should bare; please hear in the silence a need to act for today you have the power to change the world…. I will defend the constitution of the unite states of America and defend the office of President, I will respect your authority and defend your right to use it … but I will question and I will ask that as a patriot am I not also entitled to be treated as a human being…
These are the words of Bishop Robinson let them be heard across the land … he speaks for me and all who are marginalized …his words are not calls to action or calls of hate but words Mr. president that say what you promise HOPE…
A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama
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.
