Invocations Remind Us of Our Purpose

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or abridging the free exercise thereof.”

As a religionist, I support this opening of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. I also, with equal vehemence, support the words of Thomas Jefferson in interpreting this passage as erecting a “wall of separation between church and state.” It is that wall of separation that protects people of all religious denominations in terms of their privacy and their own spirituality.

On the other hand, nowhere does it say that religionists should not have a voice in the public arena. Neither does it say that religionists cannot inspire leaders of our community, our state or our nation to help to build a better society.

Certainly the utterance of public prayer at a meeting of a city council, a board of supervisors, a state legislature or either house of the United States Congress, will not affect in a negative way children in a school who might be impressed by different religious statements and made to feel as outsiders because they do not belong to the religious community of a sanctioned religious leader, whether that person be a clergyperson, an adult religious leader, a teacher or another student.

School is one thing, and the adult situation of a governmental venue is another. In such situations, it is our role as religionists to help these adults to see the very best that is within them that they may be able to serve the public and to create laws that will elevate society and encourage all of our citizens to reach their full potential.

It is with this in mind that I wholeheartedly encourage continuation of the practice of having invocations at the beginning of sessions of deliberative assemblies at every governmental level. As a matter of fact, it might not be a bad idea to begin the sessions of meetings of our executive branches, as mayors and governors and presidents meet with their councils of advisors, and for that matter, the sessions of all of our courts, to begin with some inspiration, some time for individual spirituality and some private prayer or reflection.

As an example of the kind of inspiration to which I allude, I share the following invocation, which I presented at the opening of a Ventura County Board Supervisors meeting in March:

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Every culture in the world has a faith. Every single faith has its sacred scripture. Now there is a faith that is common to 260 million people. It is called citizenship in the United States of America. As Americans, our sacred scripture is the Constitution of the United States of America.

The most beloved passage within that scripture is called the Bill of Rights. The tone is set within the first 10 words of the 1st Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.”

Why, then, might we ask, does every single deliberative body in this land begin its sessions with an invocation? That is not an establishment of religion. It is a reminder created by our founding fathers that government is not merely a matter of pragmatics. Government is a spiritual, ethical, honorable commitment.

In the Hebrew scriptures, we read, “Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof” (“Justice, justice, shall you pursue.” What every deliberative body does, be it the Congress of our nation, or be it a town council, is not merely creating laws that make things happen, but asking the question, “Why do and should things happen?”

Ideally, each legislative and executive and judicial leader must ask himself, herself, “What am I doing to bring justice into my land? What am I doing to help human beings live with one another in a more healthy, honorable, loving, decent, spiritual way?”

So no matter how detailed your deliberation, whether it is over a road, a street, an area, a plan, the question in your minds must be, “What am I doing to bring justice from the smallest to the greatest level in my community?” That is the challenge of leadership. That is your commitment. It is a joy to share that challenge with you. Now let us together say, “Amen.”

It is my hope that this article will encourage invitations from our political leaders to clergy to speak and will encourage our clergy to accept those invitations--not to promote their specific faiths but rather to challenge and to elevate and to encourage people of all backgrounds and philosophical positions to reason together and to aspire to greatness in building a better world.