Rick Warren and His Prayer

At Obama's inauguration today, Rick Warren will pray, and he will invoke the name of Jesus.  He will do this despite threats of lawsuits from atheists.  Let's pray for Warren and that situation.

Gene Robinson, the openly gap Episcopalian Bishop, will also pray at the inauguration, but he will be addressing his prayer to "the god of our many understandings".  I would like to suggest that he does not know the God whom Christ reveals, or is seemingly in open rebellion against the revealed God.  That such people are in our part of the Church of Christ is frighteningly dangerous and immensely sad.  Again, let's pray for Robinson.

The full article is here.

The Current Race...

So we have an election in November.  It will change the face of international politics.  It'll be Barack Obama or John McCain.

In the four major polls in the U.S. Obama is leading McCain, the margin ranging from 4 to 8%.  What is certain is that history will be made when the winner is announced in November.  In Britain, the media coverage has made it seem like Obama has it in the bag.  Why this seems to be the case is obvious - Obama is making history.  Who would have thought seven years ago that the U.S. public would allow a person with the first name Barack run for President?  Who would have thought that a black man could grab the hearts and minds of Americans far and wide?  The potential of having a female President was quite something, but a young, inexperienced black man?  

(Please note:  I write this in order to try and convey the extraordinary happenings in America.)

But even though this piece of history is hitting the headlines over here in Britain, the race has not been won yet.

This hit the media hard a number of days ago when Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's running mate.  A bold move, and one that has bumped McCain right back up there in the race to become President.  Palin seems confident, able, and certainly up for the fight!  (See this BBC snippet, for example.)  It is yet to be seen whether this bold move will work for McCain.  There has been a lot of talk about Palin's private life, her son with Downes Syndrome and her teenage daughter's pregnancy.  But are these issues enough to spoil it for the McCain/Palin campaign? If we are talking real life, then they shouldn't... but we're talking politics, not everyday life.

McCain's speech at the Republican National Convention wasn't dynamic.  He will clearly lose every oratory battle with Obama who has far superior rhetorical skills.  But for the time being, the McCain/Palin campaign has managed to put some distance between themselves and the Bush administration, and at the same time has stolen the limelight from Obama's Clinton laid red carpet.

A Compendium of Thoughts

A numbers of thoughts have been thought in my mind of late... my intention here is to jot them down briefly, in order to return to them later - when I may more fully dwell on them so as to do justice to both your readership and the thoughts themselves.

Barak Obama has become increasingly interesting when it comes to his seemingly erratic policies and beliefs.

Much of the outworking of theology depends upon language.

There is never enough time to fully do all that we wish to do... and indeed, we must fit ourselves into God's time - not insist on time fitting our own, often misguided and messy, lives.

Our society is generally lazy. It is very interesting reading critiques of our culture.

Integrity and holiness are hugely important... like you wouldn't believe.