Author Donald Miller offered the closing prayer tonight at the Democratic National Convention. Before folks on both sides of the political spectrum analyze this in the morning news and blogosphere, perhaps we can let the text speak for itself for a few hours:
DONALD MILLERS PRAYER - DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION - 2008
“Father God,
This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.
We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.
We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.
Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.
Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.
Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.
Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.
Hep us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.
Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.
We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.
Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.
A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.
Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.
Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.
Lastly, father, unify us.
Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.
And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.
God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.
I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
Let Him be our example.
Amen.”
7 responses so far ↓
1 Larre // Aug 31, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Do you think this is a good prayer?
2 Michael // Aug 31, 2008 at 9:25 pm
There is a reason this section is called “leave a comment” rather than “leave a question.”
3 Larre // Aug 31, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Comments can be questions. You never specified declaratives.
This is a very bad prayer.
4 Michael // Aug 31, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Now that’s a declarative. I hope you will offer further explanation as to why, in your view, this is a “very bad prayer.”
Here’s my 2 cents:
What I liked:
-His prayer included descriptive Christian phrases such as “Father God” and “in the name of Jesus.”
-He prayed for God concerning the lesser-thans (widows, orphans, children), all of which clearly sit near the heart of God.
What I didn’t like and/or left me scratching my head:
-He went partisan concerning health care, education, etc. As if a college-education is the deepest need of our young people? I think we both know there are much deeper needs: a relationship with Jesus, forgiveness and relationships restored where the fracture lines run deep, and an identity rooted in what Jesus has done on our behalf.
-”a lot of people don’t like us because they don’t know the heart of the average american…” Clearly some disagreement here with his what sits deep in the human heart…an “idol factory” says Calvin. Indeed.
-Then there’s the biggie, the closing:
“I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice. Let Him be our example.” Yes, Jesus faced injustices, and pressed on against injustices…but if He gave his life for anything having to do with injustice, it was the injustice of our betrayal. He gave his live as an atonement for our sin. Finally, Jesus is more than just our example….He is Lord (and King, and Shepherd, and Redeemer, and the list goes on…)
Miller left way too much on the table here when he had every opportunity to do otherwise. I also don’t think this is a complete picture of Miller’s view of atonement, so I would especially welcome an explanation from him on this. I do happen to believe Miller is a gifted writer and communicator, and I have read enough of his stuff to believe Him to be a devoted follower of Jesus. Yet, this is an Acts 2 moment, and I wasn’t cut to the heart.
5 Larre // Sep 1, 2008 at 2:37 am
That was a thoughtful analysis and we share many of the same objections.
And here’s my two cents which is twice the amount I’m usually offered for my thoughts.
First off, taken as a whole, I didn’t get the impression that anything in this prayer was distinctively Christian. I would suggest that he didn’t say anything that Jews, Mormons, Unitarians and even someone from the Baha’i faith would disagree with. I don’t think any of these false systems would object to the God/Father connection or the Jesus he presented. For that reason alone, he delivered a very fine universal prayer, but a very poor Christian prayer.
Second, I liked the shout-out for widows and orphans. But given the context for their mention and even more importantly, the audience he was addressing, how about a shout-out for aborted babies? That would have been a gutsy move.
Third, what would be the net result if God granted everything he asked for? Wouldn’t Earth have just been made a better place to go to Hell from? Given his requests, would one additional soul be righteous before God? Would God’s glory meter have even twitched (there’s a not to insignificant concept that was missing)? Unfortunately, American evangelicalism is currently preoccupied with a gospel that does nothing more that make Earth a better place to go to Hell from.
Fourth, the heart issue you mentioned. It’s like he’s saying, “Hey, if you could just cut us open and look at our hearts, you’d see what really good people we truly are!” Yeah, right. That goes against every Biblical description of the human condition. It’s interesting how if you get this wrong it tends to have a snowball effect on a bunch of other doctrines.
Fifth and finally, and as you say the “biggie” . . .. He could have saved it at the end, but from my perspective, the mention of Jesus came off like an obligatory sprinkling of magic pixie dust. He describes Jesus as “your son . . . who gave his own life against the forces of injustice”? What Jesus is that? That’s not the Jesus of Christianity! He’s misrepresented Jesus as being a good life coach/moral example and not the Messiah, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
So, in summary, here’s my math: no Christian distinctives + misrepresenting the human condition + misrepresenting who Jesus is + no mention of eternal good news + generally giving people a false hope that unity and good morals is God’s desire = BAD PRAYER.
Hope I’m not being to harsh. Miss you guys.
6 Mike // Nov 3, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I have to disagree with both of you on this one. I felt like this was a huge step at this conference and to pray in the name of Jesus is a Christian distinctive. Don’s view on Jesus being the Messiah is very clear not only in this prayer but in His ministry and His involvement with specific organizations. God makes His heart very clear about the orphan and the widow….actually He says in James that pure religion is to visit the orphan and the widow which to me shares a piece of God’s Heart. I think Don did a great job and you need to spend more time looking at the good that it does and lift a brother up who is fighting the same fight that you are which is that more people would come to know Jesus. We actually had someone come to our church for the first time because of this prayer and wanted to here more about Jesus Heart for the broken. We were able to share the Gospel to him and He accepted the Lord.
People accepting Jesus=GOOD PRAYER
7 Larre // Nov 5, 2008 at 2:11 am
Mike, thank you for your response. Allow me a few comments.
It’s my understanding that both Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses pray in name of Jesus (see links below). While I would agree that praying in the name of Jesus is a Christian characteristic, it most obviously is not a Christian distinctive.
http://lds.about.com/od/basicsgospelprinciples/p/prayer.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/e/19951101/article_02.htm
You stated that “Don’s view on Jesus being the Messiah is very clear . . . in this prayer.” Can you point me to the part of the prayer you’re referring to? I’m having a hard time finding any reference to Jesus as the Messiah in this prayer. If you’re talking about the part where he said, “Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice”, I think I’ve already addressed that.
I think it’s a wonderful thing that God used this prayer to draw someone to your church and because of that you judged this to be a GOOD PRAYER. You also said that “you [meaning me, I guess] need to spend more time looking at the good that it does.” Taken together, it seems to me that you’re suggesting we use pragmatism to evaluate this prayer. Now, I know of people that have been drawn to God though car wrecks and bouts with cancer. But we wouldn’t call these things good, nor would we encourage people to engage in these activities for the purpose of being drawn to God, would we? A good result or effect doesn’t automatically make the cause good, does it? I would suggest that the good you attributed to the prayer should be attributed to God who through his power and grace can save us using any circumstance, be it a car wreck, illness or a prayer (good or bad).
I’m gonna quit talking about this because none of us really knows how to pray as we should.
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