In Saturday's Kansas City Star, the FAITH section ran a story exploring Public prayer at Obama's inauguration. The article posits that there are three major opinions on public prayer:

Do it your way: The speaker should pray in his or her own faith tradition.

Embrace everyone: Pray an inclusive, interfaith prayer.

Don't do it: Prayer should not be allowed at public events.

The Star goes on to present a number of "area faith leaders" that included a blue-ribbon panel of a Protestant Pastor, a Buddhist Lama, a Seminary Professor, Jewish Rabbi, the president of the Heartland Humanists and a Catholic layman who convened the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. It's an interesting group of people that could end in "walk into a bar". Strange that they couldn't find a Catholic priest in their list of "faith leaders", but I guess you go to press with the panel you have, not the panel you want to have.

It is further strange that the Humanists are included in a list of "faith leaders", since Humanism is (theoretically) a belief system that doesn't concern itself with "supernatural beliefs". But as the great Yogi Berra said: "In theory, theory and practice are the same thing. In practice, they're not." The Heartland Humanists are closer pals to atheists than to any strain of theism. Use your Google and find out for yourself.

In any matter, I found it curious to read the Star's take on the three major prayers related to the President's inauguration. First, I'd like to spend a moment parsing the pray-ers.

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson kicked off Obamastock with an invocation that begged for tears, anger, discomfort, patience, humility, freedom from mere tolerance, compassion and generosity. All in all, I'd say that I pray for many of the same things, though for different reasons. Rev. Robinson's prayer was a hope that we make the world a better place for people, and that's a noble goal. Indeed, on the face of things, I'd say it's a worthy prayer for people to treat other people with kindness and charity. We should all be so focused in our lives. Still, I think there's more to praying for tears, anger, discomfort and humility than just a social justice agenda. I'd say there's real merit in praying for tears, anger, discomfort and humility as a way of understanding Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross, that tears of sorrow could be united to Our Lady of Sorrows, that we have a profound understanding of Christ Crucified, that our tears, anger, discomfort and humility are tools to spur people to make the world a better place for God. Which means, of course, that we make the world a better place for people. But what is our ultimate motivation? For whom does the church bell toll? I don't know much about the Episcopalian Church-- or what really distinguishes them from American Anglicans (who often say that they consider themselves Catholic-- albeit Anglican Catholic rather than Latin/Roman Catholic), and I don't know if they have the same view on the dolors that Romans do, so I might be asking too much from the man.

As an aside: what's the last rock concert you went to that had an Episcopalian bishop give the opening prayer? How odd. It seemed so "tacked-on", like he was the gay-answer to Rick Warren. I'm sure that Bishop Robinson was happy to get the call asking him to appear on HBO, but it sill seems... weird.

Protestant megachurch pastor Rick Warren, for his part, gave a fairly decent invocation that asked God to give the new President wisdom, courage and compassion--but more interesting to me was Warren's line: "We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care." I wonder if the President and his family knew that they were going to be given to God's care? Warren also had the chutzpah to mention Jesus' name outright, saying that he asked his prayer "in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus". Warren is the author of the book The Purpose Driven Life, and I think that after reviewing his invocation, his prayer is that he's praying that Obama has a Purpose Driven presidency. Warren's prayer seems to be more God-focused than Robinson's was, but it's also fair to say that they were markedly different settings. Warren was there to dedicate a new President, Robinson was there to open up for Beyonce.

I'm having a harder time understanding the Benediction prayer from Methodist Rev. Joseph Lowery. A benediction is different than an invocation, though I wonder if that really matters to anyone else than me. An invocation is a prayer to invoke God into our lives, it's a prayer of petition--the word comes from the latin verb invocare, meaning "to call on". A benediction is a prayer of blessing, which while it broadly calls an invocation for divine help, is more like a prayer of good wishes. The word itself is based in the Latin words bene (well) and dicere (to speak) and suggests a prayer to for an infusion of holiness more than a specific petition request from the Almighty. Lowery, for his part, used his benediction to string together some Spirituals and Blues songs to make a curiously rhyming prayer that was more poetic than the actual poetry that preceded his blessing. Lowery's focus was, like Robinson's, directed towards the broken, wounded, exploited and unfavored people that they might be rich and elite one day. I suppose that there's a tangible connection between Lowery's prayer and Jesus' eight Beatitudes, but the Beatitudes promise eternal riches, not temporal ones.

These three speeches are what prompts the Star to ask its panel a few questions about public prayer. One of those questions was this: "Should a person offer a public prayer in his or her own faith tradition or an interfaith prayer?" The answers were interesting. In their own words:

Bishop Mark Tolbert, senior pastor of Victorious Life Church in Kansas City: He said he always prays in the name of Jesus because he believes "this is the name that God has ordained for this dispensation." The Pentecostal pastor said he doesn't want to offend anyone.

"There are other things that I might modify in my attempt not to offend, but when it comes to prayer, that is too sensitive and crucial for me to not want to offend God. Because if I please others but don't please God, then I run the risk of not getting my prayers answered."

Thor Madsen, academic dean at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City: He agrees that Christians should not pray interfaith prayers because "by their very nature, they downplay the lordship of Christ and his unique place in salvation history."

The Rev. William Davis, Pastor of Sycamore Hills Vaptist [sic] Church, Independence: For a Christian, Davis said, there can be interfaith dialogue, cooperation and activities but not "interfaith prayer in a proper sense."

"Prayer for a Christian comes from intimacy with God through Christ," the Southern Baptist minister said. "Interfaith prayer would compromise that intimacy since Christ would not be seen by other faiths in the same manner and as the one by whom the Father is approached."

Ted Peters, religion professor at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, Calif., author of publications on public prayer: The alternative to praying within one's own faith tradition "would be to construct a prayer that tries to be inclusive of many traditions, and the result is such a vapid prayer that everyone -- perhaps God included -- wants to regurgitate. There is something authentic about a prayer that exhibits the strength of a long religious tradition, even if that tradition is not one's own."

[Rev. Holly McKissick, pastor of St. Andrew Christian Church, Olathe]: "To offer a public prayer that ends with 'O Source of all Life' instead of 'In Jesus' name' does not reflect a watered down faith, but a sensitivity to the varied ways people experience God. It is consciously choosing, in a public setting, to go with words that will touch the broadest group possible."

[Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, professor of liturgy, worship and ritual at Hebrew Union College]: "When people try to pray in common, some may say this is the lowest common denominator, but I would call it the highest common denominator. It is very high for people to expand their horizons and understand that God created the entire universe and is not limited as humans are.

"God speaks all languages. God even hears the prayers of the heart. He does interfaith work."

And all of this speaks to a totally different question that must first be sincerely answered before you can ask about the method of prayer: why do public prayer at all?. I mean, really. Why are you doing it?

There are two elements to any life of faith: a horizontal dimension and a vertical dimension. A horizontal dimension is focused on people, a vertical dimension is focused on God. In real life, we've got both dimensions in our churches--and broadly speaking, we need both dimensions. It's more popular to be horizontal--think of this as the "chuch as a soup kitchen" model. And indeed, Christ Himself said to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the imprisoned. It's a meritorious goal! A vertical dimension is the more erudite position--in it's extremes, I think of it as the Carthusian model that lives as a total hermit dedicated to worship the Lord. But when we gather in public prayer, which dimension is our greater focus? Are we praying to God or are we praying to other people? With whom is the conversation?

I'd venture to say that Bishop Robinson's prayer was more like a God-ish speech to people more than a person's speech with God. Warren's prayer seemed to be a real petition to the Lord. Lowery's prayer seemed more like a moment for the microphones. These are, perhaps, unfair criticisms. But I'll stand by them nonetheless.

So when you're praying publicly, is it poor form to pray in your own "faith tradition" or should you use a neutered interfaith prayer? Listen: you're praying to God for God's blessing. You're not praying to the crowd or the cameras--and if you are, then you're not really praying. A horizontal dimension may be important to people and religions in practice, but prayers are vertical. The whole point is to talk to God. When you spend time watering down a prayer to make it acceptable to people, you've already missed the point.

So here's my answer: I'm praying for the President. I'm praying for the country. And I pray in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Just remember who you're praying for and who you're praying to... there's a difference.