The Inaugural Benediction

Little has been made of Joseph Lowery's prayer of benediction. I watched and prayed with him today saying amen when he finished. Here is something he prayed that I enjoyed:

..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."

..Let all who do justice and love mercy say amen and say amen.

11 comments:

  1. Are you serious, KB? Little SHOULD be made of it.

    Yellow be mellow? White will embrace what's right? Was this written by Dr. Suess?
    I thought that was just about the most racist thing I've heard in a bit.

    The day was grand, but marred by this guy and the classless idiots singing, "Hey hey, goodbye" when President Bush arrived. For shame.

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  2. Did you hear the prayer Karen?

    I liked the humor.. but I can understand if you didn't.

    Ditto your thoughts on the classlessness towards President Bush.

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  3. God did a work on my heart last night and showed me I did not have to much room to talk about any body, even, the new President.

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  4. Yes, I did hear it. It was played again through the magic of television. Why?

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  5. We each seemed to have such a different reaction to the prayer Karen.. I thought maybe you were reacting more to my reaction than to the prayer.

    Either way.. I so appreciate you and love that you are honest in your responses.. even when we do not agree :)

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  6. Karen, you are absolutely correct! It was very Dr. Seuss-esque; except Dr. Seuss didn't resort to racist, belittling words to make his point.

    The rest of the day--wonderful! A very good day.

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  7. I liked his prayer (as well as most of the ceremony) except for this part.

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  8. Trying hard to see what you saw in it, KB...really.

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  9. Thx for the comments all.. here is a link to the entire text of his prayer. I especially liked this:

    "We go now to walk together as 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 nations 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."


    Maybe I just liked the prayer because it was from a man who has persevered under hardship and stayed faithful to the Lord.

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  10. I do think the prayer was a tad shocking to our politically correct ears. But Joseph Lowery lived through times when segregation kept him from equality based solely on the color of his skin. I was born in the decade after the civil rights movement and always felt that what I learned in school was ancient history, but it is NOT! Those memories are still fresh in many minds. And the injustices against people of other colors as well, think American Indians who have had countless treaties broken, and Chinese immigrants who were exploited on the railroads, that have also not been forgotten.

    To my ear it rang very sincere and reminded me of the song I loved as a child:

    Jesus loves the little children,
    all the children of the world,
    red and yellow, black and white,
    all are precious in his sight,
    Jesus loves the little children of the world!

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    beautiful …"

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