National Night of Prayer

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored!" And so we have sailed the seas and have come...

To the final night of the George W. Bush presidency and the dawn of a day I never would ever have thought possible.

Yesterday after I dropped The Heir off for her second term of college, I heard on the radio that a pastor from the Philadelphia African Methodist Episcopal Church has asked everyone to engage in serious prayer Monday night in anticipation of the transition to the Obama presidency.

I doubt that the pastor in question thought that people would be praying to bored gods on behalf of President Obama (OH THAT NAME SOUNDS LOVELY). But here is my personal inaugural prayer:

O great Gods and Goddesses of the ancestors of Barack Obama.

Ye gods of dark skin, whose people were wrenched from their homelands and from Your praise, whose people were thrown into chains and tormented unto ten generations, ye gods whose existence has been denigrated by white-skinned missionaries with powerful antibiotics: Stand at the right shoulder of Barack Obama, child of Your creation. Be with him, and us, as this new era dawns.

O great Goddess, Queen Brighid the Bright, shower your sweet love upon Barack Obama and the people of America. May we all learn tolerance and respect from his example. May we live to see the day when all children of all Gods and Goddesses can rise up and say, "We are here! Our deities are great! Prepare a place at our national table for Them. And so shall They bless us, every one."

A new man goes to the White House. But there are still bridges to build. A bridge for Gay. A bridge for Pagan. A bridge for Newcomer. A bridge for the big, broad, flexible outlook.

And there are bridges to burn. The bridge of Greed. The bridge of Me First. The bridge of Mine Is the Only Way. Light the matches, kindle the flame, tear down those walls.

May there be peace throughout the world. Awen. Awen. Awen.

Well now. Isn't that a nice prayer? Not bad after a long Day of Service, if I might say so myself. Time to feed the cats!