Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Kudos to Rick Warren



Anyone who knows me well, knows that I don't believe in putting Ministers up on pedestals. For one thing, they almost always fall off and then nobody is happy.

I know who Rick Warren is, I know that he wrote The Purpose Driven Life, I know he is/was involved with the Saddleback Church (which I think is the fastest growing church in the US) I know that a lot of people think he hung the moon (but both he and I know that God did that!)

I only caught a small portion of the swearing in ceremony this morning as I was getting ready for an appointment but I did hear Mr. Warren's prayer. I thought he did a wonderful job. He prayed for "civility when differing", he mentioned MLK and our gratitude for living in America. He spoke of being united regardless of our race, religion or blood.

At the end of his prayer, He asked for these things in name of Jesus who taught us to pray. He then recited the Lord's Prayer.

So today, while I don't think Rick Warren is worthy of being held up as the ultimate example of how to live a Christian Life (I think Jesus already did a good job of that!) I am proud of him and his refusal to bend to the pressure of those who asked him not to pray in "Jesus"'s name. For a Christian is there truly any other way to pray?

4 comments:

Judy said...

I'm applauding him too!! How wonderful to hear the name of Jesus during such an event!

Ramblins of a middle-aged goddess said...

He was there under a lot of flack and so that was not a good way to be!! I also thought that he did a great job under those circumstances. God is working through him. Our son Jon goes to his church in California. I have seen him in person. He is a nice man...
I wanted to thank you for saying that you would give my husband a job if we lived closer. I thought that was a very nice gesture. He would do a wonderful job for you!! He is doing two jobs today but that is it for this whole week. We are hanging in knowing that "this too shall pass!!"

Lynn said...

AMEN sister! You are so right.

Claire & Eden said...

Yeah- I've been going out at night all week to do errands but I'm hosting a shower tomorrow so I needed to get out! Crazy huh? I do a lot better at home too in the quiet =) Loved what you wrote about Rick Warren - I really liked his part of the inaguration too