prayer, as usual...not politics

On the morning after the inauguration I am jolted to the realization of how desperately we need to pray. A daunting challenge is before us as a nation and on a smaller, but no less poignant level, we are facing it in Amador County, and in the local church I pastor.

It would be easy to default to "politics as usual" but I am opting for something different. This morning I called a number of our local church to meet with me for prayer at noon to pray. I am hoping our modus operandi will become "prayer as usual".

Our new president has inspired hope in the hearts of a diverse population that is facing this next four years with unparalleled hopes. The arrival of an African American president in the White House is something to be applauded. The influx of new young voters and the awakening of those identified as the "economically-disadvantaged" and "politically disenfranchised" is heartening as well.

Political promises have often resonated from the partisan pulpits of the election process. Promises of change--though often generally articulated and generously-priced--are not new. There is no doubt that change is needed--our soldiers need to come home when they can safely, our economic policies need to be revisited, and our divided and fragmented country needs to be united.

At what cost? I think that is the question that lurks darkly in my heart. Already there is talk of redoubling the efforts to overturn the will of the people in California who voted to affirm traditional marriage. There is evidence work is already begun to remove the challenge to "abstinence" from the sexual education philosophy of our schools, as well as determined activity once again to make abortions easier. These issues, which reflect the moral heart of America, and which are really not political at the root, always reappear in the political arena when "change" is the order of the day.

And so, I feel called to pray. I pray that President Obama, a man of professed spiritual integrity and commitment, will govern well--not with politics as usual--but with an awareness of the presence of a Soveriegn God--a God whose presence was invoked throughout the multitudinous activies of a crowded Inauguration Day by a pluralistic group of men who all prayed for the same thing--wisdom and peace for our country.