So just what does an Inaugural Invocation look like?

[zulchzulu]

FWIW, here are some examples of Reverend Billy Graham's inaugural invocations for Bush, Sr. in 1989 and both of Clinton/Gore ceremonies in 1993 and 1997. I would guess that Warren's invocation will be about the same kind of theo-boilerplate stuff. As an organized religion agnostic (and one coerced to go to Catholic mass occasionally), it's pretty much the same stuff. I'll have my back turned when Warren speaks and have recently heard about a great grassroots effort called White Knot (http://www.whiteknot.org/) that offers another solution as well.

1989 Inaugural Invocation with Reverend Billy Graham with George Herbert Walker Bush:

Our Father and our God, Thou hast said, 'Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.' We recognize on this historic occasion that we are a nation under God. This faith in God is our foundation and our heritage. Thou hast warned us in the Holy Scriptures, 'If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?' We confess that we are in danger of destroying some of those foundations, for at times our faith in Thee has faltered and we chosen to go our own way rather than the way that Thou wouldst have us go, both as individuals and as a nation. Forgive us, we pray, as we turn to Thee in repentance and faith. Restore us to Thyself and create within us a desire to follow Thy will for all our lives. As George Washington reminded us in his farewell address, morality and faith are the pillars of our society. May we never forget that....

And now we come to a new era in our history. In Thy sovereignty Thou hast permitted George Bush to lead us at this momentous hour of our history for the next four years. As he today places his hand upon the Bible and solemnly swears before Thee to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, give him the wisdom, integrity and courage to help this become a nation that is gentle and kind. Protect him from physical danger, and in the lonely moments of decision grant him Thy wisdom to know what is morally right and an uncompromising courage to do it. Give him a cool head and a warm heart. Give him a compassion for those in physical, moral and spiritual need. 0 God, we consecrate today George Herbert Walker Bush to the presidency of these United States.

http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/inaugural03.htm

1993 Inaugural Invocation with Reverend Billy Graham for Bill Clinton and Al Gore:

Our God and our Father, we thank you for this historic occasion when we inaugurate our new President and Vice-President. We thank you for the moral and spiritual foundations which our forefathers gave us and which are rooted deeply in scripture. Those principles nourished and guided us as a nation in the past, but we cannot say that we are a righteous people. We've sinned against you. We've sown to the wind and are reaping the whirlwind of crime, drug abuse, racism, immorality, and social injustice. We need to repent of our sins and turn by faith to you.

And now, on this twentieth day of January, 1993, we commit to you President-elect Clinton and Vice-President-elect Gore, who you have permitted to take leadership at this critical time in our nation's history. Help them always to see the office to which they've been elected as a sacred trust from you. We pray that you will bless their wives who will share so much of the responsibility and burdens. Make President-elect Clinton know that he is never really alone but that the eternal God can he his refuge and he can turn to you in every circumstance. Give him the wisdom you've promised to whose who ask and the strength that you alone can give. We thank you for his predecessor President Bush and the dedication he gave to this office. Bless him as he and Mrs. Bush continue their dedicated service to our country in other spheres. We commit this inaugural ceremony to you and ask that the memory of this event may always remind us to pray for our leaders. I pray this in the name of the one that's called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. Amen.

http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/inaugural04.htm

1997 Inaugural Invocation with Reverend Billy Graham for Bill Clinton and Al Gore:

President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, Vice President Gore, Mrs. Gore. I'm going to ask that we all bow our heads in prayer. Our Father and our God, we thank You today for the privilege of coming into Your presence on this historic and solemn occasion.

We thank You for Your gracious hand which has preserved us as a nation. We praise You for the peaceful continuity of government that this Inauguration represents.
We recall that the Bible says, "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it" (Psalm 127: 1, KJV). You also said that to whom much has been given, much shall be required. We look gratefully to the past, and thank You that from the very foundations of America You granted our forefathers courage and wisdom, as they trusted in You. So we ask today that You would inspire us by their example; where there has been failure, forgive us; where there has been progress, confirm; where there has been success, give us humility; and teach us to follow Your instructions more closely as we enter the next century.

Give to all those to whom You have entrusted leadership today a desire to seek Your will and to do it. So today we ask Your blessing on President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, and their daughter, Chelsea; and upon Vice President Gore and his wife, Tipper, and their children.

Give to all our leaders the vision of what You desire America to become, and the wisdom to accomplish it, and the strength to cross the bridges into the 21st Century. We pray also for the members of the House and the Senate; for the Supreme Court; and for all who bear responsibility of leadership in this nation which is blessed with such ethnic diversity. We have not solved all the social problems of our time, such as drugs and racism. Technology and social engineering have not solved the basic problems of human greed, pride, intolerance, and selfishness. We need Your insight, we need Your compassion, we need Your strength.

As both President Clinton and Senator Dole urged us in the recent presidential campaign, may this be a time of coming together to help us deal with the problems we face. O Lord, help us to be reconciled first to you and secondly to each other. May Dr. Martin Luther King's dream finally come true for all of us. Help us to learn our courtesy to our fellow countryman that comes from the One who taught us that "whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them."

Remind us today that You have shown us what is good, and what You require of us: To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. We ask that as a people we may humble ourselves before You, and seek Your will for our lives and for this great nation. Help us in our nation to work as never before to strengthen our families, and to give our children hope and a moral foundation for the future. So may our desire be to serve You, and in so doing, serve one another. This we pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/inaugural08.htm

Additionally, remember that Reverend Joseph Lowery, (fiercely for Equal Rights for All, gay rights and gay marriage, will have the last word with the Benediction. You won't hear much about that from the Progressive media, which I find oddly journalistically sloppy. Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RHHNo1aOy

[firedupdem]

1. Thank you for this. I knew it was a prayer but I wasn't sure if they

spoke on their own at all or just said the prayer. Thanks

[ecstatic]

2. Good to know. Thanks nt

[DJ13]

3. I thought it was more like this

:shrug:

[ecstatic]

4. LOL! nt

[Mz Pip]

5. What was Billy Graham's

position on gays, women's rights and abortion? Were his views really any different than those of Warren?

Did he ever say anything controversial? I'm curious as to what kind of attention was paid to him because he gave the invocation.

[zulchzulu]

6. Billy Graham is against gay marriage and abortion except for rape, incest or life of mother

There actually was some protests when Graham did the invocations for the Clintons:

A group of antiabortion activists has called on Billy Graham not to participate in the inauguration of Bill Clinton as president. Leaders of the group, many of them associated with Operation Rescue and the Christian Action Council--an organization that Graham helped form in 1975--said they would flood the evangelist's Minneapolis headquarters with letters and phone calls demanding that he refuse to pray for Clinton. They also planned a prayer vigil in front of Graham's headquarters.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_/ai_13375025

[stillcool]

12. I wonder if they're sitting this one out...

[IndianaGreen]

7. God is male and women are under a Divinely ordained patriarchy

That's the idiotic message in those invocations.

[ensho]

11. true

nt

[dflprincess]

8. I certainly hope no tax money is spent on these preachers

every last dime it costs to have them at the inauguration (travel, hotel, security, food etc) should be coming out of private funds. I believe in God, but I also believe in a strict seperation of church and state and if tax money is being used to fund prayers like this, I think the establishment clause is being violated.

[zulchzulu]

9. That's a very good point

I'd like to see the itemized list on Warren, and since I'm trying to be consistent, Reverend Lowery.

[yowzayowzayowza]

10. Mist this over the w/e. Others mighta too.

:kick: