By Bill Keller
I want to share with you my invocation at the US president's inauguration. This is the prayer Rick Warren should have prayed if he weren't more a marketer than a minister, more a businessman than a bishop, more a politician than a prophet.
"Almighty God, hear the humble pleas of your people today. Oh God, we have no right to even ask for your blessings on this day. We are a wicked and sinful people. We slaughter four thousand innocent lives every 24 hours. We've made a mockery of your holy institution of marriage and the family. While claiming to be a friend to Israel, we have cursed your chosen people by plotting with her enemies. We've forsaken you for every false god and idol man has created out of his rebellious mind.
"For all of these gross indiscretions we can only ask your forgiveness. We ask your blessings on our incoming president and his family. Oh God, I pray that they will surrender their hearts and lives to you and that they will be guided by the only truth there is, your holy word. May this nation today recognize that we are totally dependent upon you and that our blessings come from above as we faithfully and obediently follow and honor you with our lives. May we turn back to you and the truth of your word and ask you to bless us as we do. In the name that is above all names, the only name by which men are saved, the name of the savior of the world, Jesus Christ, amen."
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