12 weeks old
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inaugural Benediction
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 joy of a new beginning,
we ask you to help us work for that day
when black will not be asked to give back,
when brown can stick around,
when yellow will be mellow,
when the red man can get ahead, man,
and when white will embrace what is right,
That all those who do justice and love mercy, say 'Amen'.
Say 'Amen.'
And 'Amen.
Rev. Joseph Lowery
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 joy of a new beginning,
we ask you to help us work for that day
when black will not be asked to give back,
when brown can stick around,
when yellow will be mellow,
when the red man can get ahead, man,
and when white will embrace what is right,
That all those who do justice and love mercy, say 'Amen'.
Say 'Amen.'
And 'Amen.
Rev. Joseph Lowery
Inaugural 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 O 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 hingepoint of 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 every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, O 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 we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our 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. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people 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, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], 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."
Rev. Rick Warren
The Black National Anthem
By James Weldon Johnson
Lift ev'ry voice and sing.
Till earth and heaven ring.
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise,
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a stead beat
Have not our wear feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, teading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of or silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on 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 our God,
True to our native land.
Lift ev'ry voice and sing.
Till earth and heaven ring.
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise,
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a stead beat
Have not our wear feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, teading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of or silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on 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 our God,
True to our native land.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Television
Television is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome.
-- T.S. Eliot
-- T.S. Eliot
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
KYRIE
God of history and of our hearts,
So much has happened to us during this past year:
We've known death and birth; we've been brave and scared;
we've hurt, we've helped; we've been honest; we've lied;
we've destroyed; we've created; we've been with people, we've been lonely;
we've been loyal, we've betrayed; we've decided; we've waffled;
we've laughed and we've cried.
You know our frail hearts and our frayed history -- and now another year begins.
KYRIE
O God, help us to believe in beginnings
And in our beginning again, no matter how often we've failed before/
Help us make beginnings:
To begin forgiving that we may experience mercy;
To begin questioning the unquestionable that we may know truth;
To begin disciplining that we may create beauty;
To begin sacrificing that we may accomplish justice;
To begin risking that we may make peace;
To begin loving that we may realize joy.
KYRIE
Help us to be a beginning for others,
To be a singer to the songless, a storyteller to the aimless,
A befriender of the friendless;
TO become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,
of comfort for the sorrowing, of friendship for the forgotten;
To become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,
of sweetness for the soured, of gentleness for the angry,
of wholeness for the broken, of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth.
KYRIE
Help us to believe in beginnings, to make a beginning, to be a beginning, so that we may not just grow old, but grow new each day of this wild, amazing life you call us to live with the passion of Jesus Christ.
KYRIE
So much has happened to us during this past year:
We've known death and birth; we've been brave and scared;
we've hurt, we've helped; we've been honest; we've lied;
we've destroyed; we've created; we've been with people, we've been lonely;
we've been loyal, we've betrayed; we've decided; we've waffled;
we've laughed and we've cried.
You know our frail hearts and our frayed history -- and now another year begins.
KYRIE
O God, help us to believe in beginnings
And in our beginning again, no matter how often we've failed before/
Help us make beginnings:
To begin forgiving that we may experience mercy;
To begin questioning the unquestionable that we may know truth;
To begin disciplining that we may create beauty;
To begin sacrificing that we may accomplish justice;
To begin risking that we may make peace;
To begin loving that we may realize joy.
KYRIE
Help us to be a beginning for others,
To be a singer to the songless, a storyteller to the aimless,
A befriender of the friendless;
TO become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,
of comfort for the sorrowing, of friendship for the forgotten;
To become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,
of sweetness for the soured, of gentleness for the angry,
of wholeness for the broken, of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth.
KYRIE
Help us to believe in beginnings, to make a beginning, to be a beginning, so that we may not just grow old, but grow new each day of this wild, amazing life you call us to live with the passion of Jesus Christ.
KYRIE
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Opportunity
Opportunity doesn't always show up
on your step and pound on your door
Most of the time,
opportunity must be created.
on your step and pound on your door
Most of the time,
opportunity must be created.
A Soldiers Prayer
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve;
I was made weak, that I might learn to humbly obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed.
I was made weak, that I might learn to humbly obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
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