As a new day looms on the horizon there is a heaviness I've been trying to deny. I make no apologies for the fact that I did not vote for Barack Obama. My vote had nothing, and my heart is free of condemnation as I know I speak the truth, to do with race. I will be the first in line to vote for a man or woman of whatever color skin they may have if I believed they had the ability to lead our country in these trying times. I would vote proudly if I believed they truly loved our country and were willing to make wise decisions that would protect those who could not speak for themselves (the unborn being a major population overlooked by the Obama campaign) and not just those who had the loudest mouths with the largest amounts of money behind them. I would vote everyday and twice on Sunday for a leader who understood that cultural differences mean that sitting down to "talk it out" in some countries means that they will sit down with you and agree to stop whatever is causing the problem and plot to kill you as soon as you walk out the door. Someone who understands that in those countries negotiation is not a word they are very fond of. To know that a person whose skin is red, yellow, black or white and is female or male but truly has what it takes to KEEP (not make) the United States of America a country that is powerful because it cares for it's people first and what others think of us second...THAT is a leader I am willing to vote for. I say with trepidation that tomorrow is coming...and I fear (I'm not afraid, but I fear as I would fear a rattlesnake curled near my feet in the South Dakota Badlands) what tomorrow brings.
Just tonight I heard the news pronouncing that one of Barack Obama's first actions in office will be to overturn a reinstatement made by the Bush Administration of a policy put in place by Ronald Reagan (and overturned by Bill Clinton in 1993) that "bans the United States from funding international family planning groups that provide information, counseling, or referrals about abortion.
The "Mexico City policy," commonly referred to by critics as "the global gag rule," was devised by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 at a population conference in Mexico City, CNN says."
Are we surprised? No. Not really. Why would we be when on the campaign trail Barack Obama declared that he wouldn't want his daughter "punished" with a pregnancy just because she was choosing to be sexually active? Funny. I have never looked at ANY of my pregnancies as punishment...before or after marriage. Consequential, yes, but not punishment.
And so I look at the clock and see that in my time zone I have 5 minutes left of the George W. Bush Presidency...although he doesn't have the approval ratings right now, he will go down in my book as a President of integrity, faith and courage. It has been my honor to pray for a man who knows Who is really in control.
But my prayers don't stop now. No, quite the contrary. My prayers ramp up now. You see, I was motivated to write tonight not because of a Presidential changing of the guard...but because of an article I read while researching tomorrow's inauguration. It was an article that literally stopped me in my tracks. Much like those articles in the news where a mother has drowned her children, or a supposed man of God who leads a congregation in His Word has abused his power over little children he is supposed to be a shepherd to...those kinds of articles that literally make you want to find a way to hurry the second coming of Christ so you can be delivered from a world soooooo, well, so hell-bent on doing those things that only bring destruction and pain to this world. (I know! Get to the article already!) The article I refer to is found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090119/lf_afp/lifestylebritainreligiontransportatheism (sorry, you'll have to cut and paste into your address bar) The article speaks of a new trend in London and Western Europe. It started as a funny little comment from a comedic journalist in an article she wrote back in June. Now this comment is plastered on the sides of buses, and is literally driving all around London.
The comment is, "There probably is no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
Further down in the article it states that in Italy buses will soon be carrying this message, "The bad news is that God does not exist. The good news is that we do not need him."
Now, may I say that I have no problem with atheists having a voice. My heart stopping moment comes in the realization that the very God who IS in control will not tolerate sin...and He does not make any secrets over the fact that one day EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. There is very much a God...and He is a God of justice as much as He is a God of love. My thought was, "Oh, Lord. They're so lost! They're rejecting the Rolls Royce to drive the Subaru because it's more common, and in their choosing they're missing out on the very "enjoyment" of life they long for. They have no idea that the peace they're demanding and the worries they're avoiding have very little to do with whether or not You exist, but with the fact that they have been so deeply deceived over Who You really are." My next thought was, "Lord, have mercy on them...for they know not what they do." And in a moment I remembered the story of cities literally brought to ruin because He could not find one godly one in them. I remember the telling of the flood that came to cover the earth because those He created for relationship had so vividly rejected Him for their own pleasure. And a deep seated fear...that comes from an awesome respect and understanding of power...settled deep in my soul.
My prayers aren't stopping. They're ramping up.
Another article motivated me, too. This one came from the opposite spectrum of the atheist who says there is no God. This article also stopped my heart for a moment...more because it seemed to shatter than because I couldn't believe what I was reading. This article was actually a transcription of a prayer read at an Inauguration event this weekend. It is from the "first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination." His name is Gene Robinson, and he is a Bishop in the Episcopal church. Many are up in arms over the fact that HBO didn't air his prayer before the "We Are One" Inaugural concert that was aired on that channel (which certainly hasn't been an enemy to the homosexual community). I have nothing to say about him or his sexual orientation, but when I read his prayer...the prayer of a man who supposedly knows and loves the same God I do...I was brought to my knees in sorrow and grief. Here are some portions of his prayer:
"O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears - tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless this nation with anger - anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
The "salutation" stopped me first, "O God of our many understandings...." Huh. I know that there is only ONE TRUE GOD. I Timothy 2: 5-6 says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time." John 14:6 says, "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." There's only One God ~ and no matter what your "understanding" of Him, He is the One you will stand before one day. I don't hate Bishop Robinson for what He said...my heart breaks over his blatant misunderstanding and complete absence of the very God he says he serves. He's missing out on true peace as he leads many, many people on the path of destruction ~ not in this short life, but for eternity. How can a heart continue beating regularly when faced with such grief?
His second paragraph he would probably say could be pointed directly at me because of my views...and yet the discrimination against my views is not included in his statement. Huh. Crazy, isn't it? Romans 7 says this: "Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law." Doesn't that just make it all clear as to why the Word of God is a pariah, but praying to God is all good? It is in the Word of God that we learn how very lost we really are....and it's in the Word of God that we learn how very loved we are, too. Because I agree that homosexuality is sin...and because I live my life with a firm foundation that what I believe is true...I am intolerable. Well, it's not the first time I've been that...might as well not stop now. *grin*
His prayer is quite lengthy (why wouldn't it be? He has a platform...why not use it?) You can read the prayer in it's entirety here if you'd like: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/19/exclusion-of-gay-bishop-f_n_159114.html
I have to say that I don't disagree with every point he has made in his prayer/political statement. I grieve just as much over the abuse of women and children all around the world as I do the actions I've written about here already. I, too, want us to stop being comfortable with the simplistic answers we accept instead of learning the truth of who we are. I think, however, that Bishop Robinson is very much in the role Tom Cruise played to Jack Nicholson's "You can't HANDLE the truth!" It is logistically impossible for there to be dual "truths." Is he really wanting us to hear the "truth" of who we are, or is he simply wanting his lie to be accepted as truth?
There is another statement Bishop Robinson got right, though. Read this:
"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."
No. Barack Obama is not a messiah. Nowhere near. He is bringing about a change, though, and because of the changes he has promised to bring I will certainly not be stopping my praying anytime soon. I hope, no matter if you voted for or against him, you'll join me in praying that the One True God will work through and in our new President, Barack Obama.
Goodnight ~ tomorrow's a whole new day.
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