January 19, 2009 - change is in the wind

I've been caught up in change lately by being more involved in decisions involving my daughter's wedding (it's like running a small business!!), by being indulged by a new manicurist/pedicurist who spent four hours making me soft and smell wonderful (no kidding!! and my feet were not THAT bad!!), and by watching the drama of one president leave the US and a new one enter.
I watched Bush's farewell press conference thinking 'does anyone still believe this man's lies?' only to hear that one of my brothers feels that Obama will let the scum (his word) out of Guantanamo and there will be another 9/11 without Bush to protect us. My brother is not a redneck in the traditional sense, because he is well educated and worldly, but he obviously spent too much time in the sun in Texas when he lived there!! And he is among the conservatives who want to keep their "old" way of life and not have to change. Nice man, though.
I am enjoying some of the pomp and circumstance leading up to tomorrow's inaugural, until I realize someone (and noone is taking credit) moved gay bishop Gene Robinson's prayer to a time that would not be televised. Just so his words are not missed, here they are:

"O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears - tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless this nation with anger - anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we've preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.
Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion's God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.
And God, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln's reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy's ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King's dream of a nation for all people.Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.
Give him stirring words; We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters' childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we're asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand, that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace. Amen."

And I am praying that tomorrow indeed means change. A change in attitude first and foremost that excludes no one and honors the gifts that we each have and bring. Hail Barack, good luck, and feel free to change almost everything!!