Any other atheists out there have a thing for prayers that hearken to Micah?
I didn't catch the preacher's name [Update: Jill Callison did! See below!], but the benediction at the prayer service for George McGovern at First United Methodist Church in Sioux Falls last night deserves a reprinting. (Hyperlinks and transcription errors are mine):
Lord to those who hunger, give bread. And to those that have bread, give the hunger for justice.
That prayer epitomized the daily life and the leadership of our beloved George McGovern. His passion and compaassion for justice, peace, and feeding the hungry transcended political and religious barriers and led him to walk without flinching into the major controversies of our time.
Tonight, O God, we know that people live in distant Vietnam, Cambodia, Kenya, Uganda, Guatemala, Cuba, because George McGovern had the courgage and dared to speak out when others were afraid. Becasue he did not selfishly utter the Lord's Prayer thinking only of himself when he said, "Give us this day our daily bread," Tonight, poor people, women, men, children, in this land and around the world, have food to eat tonight.
But what about tomorrow, God?
What about tomorrow? Who among us will speak out for justice, peace, and feeding the hungry? Will food stamps, school lunches, programs for women and infant children be destroyed by callous budget cuts? will the military-industrial complex go unchallenged because there's no longer a war hero and peacenik like George McGovern to call us to the task of peacemaking? Will those who suffer from malnutrion and diseases like HIV and AIDS no longer have prophetic voices envisioning a better future for all humankind?
In victory and defeat, in life and death, Senator McGovern was always the same, a humble prairie statesman who believed and lived by the great commandment to love God and neighbor. Like the Good Samaritan, he was a man of mercy, and like the Great Physician, a man of healing.
So let us go forth this night, remembering not only George McGovern and thanking God for a life well lived, but also rejoicing with the angels in heaven that truly we have been shown how to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.
Let us go in peace and may the peace of God be with us as we seek to be peacemakers and as we seek to fulfill McGovern's vision of ending hunger in our time. Amen.
[benediction, prayer service for George McGovern, First United Methodist Church, Sioux Falls, SD, October 25, 2012]
I still cringe at key church lines. I can't hear any angels, and I have to avert my eyes and hold my tongue when I hear the lines about George's happy reunion with Eleanor. I might even grab a helmet to run for cover from the grenades some observers may lob at the pastor for making pretty clear political statements from the pulpit (food stamps and school lunches over the military-industrial complex? Uff da!).
But we should all be able to shake hands with the pastor who calls on us, even in our grief, to go forth, love mercy, and do justice.
That was Dr. Donald Messer, former pastor of First United Methodist in Sioux Falls, former president of Dakota Wesleyan University and former president of Iliff Theological Seminary. He was raised in Kimball, and he first met Sen. McGovern in, of all places, India.
Thanks, Jill!
What a good dedication to a person so committed to social justice.
Even if people didn't consider Sen. McGovern politically successful, he embodied a different kind of success: "To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded". Sen. McGovern's success was countless hungry people strong. It's good to see this acknowledged by the pastor and the want for social justice tied with religion so publicly
I was released from USMC active duty in Feb. 1972. My interest in history was not in full bloom, but I had realized that the Vietnam War was due to an American phobia of communism and socialism. I am proud of my Vietnam service, but What George McGovern had been saying about the war made sense to me. It also made me rethink my political views. My epiphany came in 1974 when George ran for Senator again. I was now a Democrat despite both parents and many relatives being Republican. Over the years, meeting George at many SD Democratic functions I came to consider him one of the few Statesmen the US has produced. Why is it that it takes a George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton to make huge contributions to humanity after being President. What have George H. W., George W., Ronald Reagan, Dick Chaney done after their terms? Very little me thinks. Good night George, where ever you are; and thanks.