Obamination: Easter Prayer Breakfast

Was it really about resurrection, salvation & prayer, or was it about cronyism,  politics and image making? 

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Please, please have a seat.

Well, it is absolutely wonderful to be here with all of you today.  I see so many good friends all around the room.

Before I begin, I want to acknowledge one particular member of my administration who I’m extraordinarily proud of and does not get much credit, and that is USAID Administrator, Dr. Raj Shah, who is doing great work with faith leaders.  (Applause.)  Where’s Raj?  Where is he?  There he is right there.  Raj is doing great work with faith leaders on our Feed the Future global hunger program, as well as on a host of other issues.  We could not be prouder of the work that he’s doing.  I also want to acknowledge Congressman Mike McIntyre and his wife, Dee.  (Applause.)  Mike -- as some of you know, obviously, North Carolina was ravaged by storms this past weekend, and our thoughts and prayers are with all the families who have been affected down there.  I know that Mike will be helping those communities rebuild after the devastation.

To all the faith leaders and the distinguished guests that are here today, welcome to our second annual -- I’m going to make it annual, why not?  (Laughter and applause.)  Our second Easter Prayer Breakfast.  The Easter Egg Roll, that’s well established.  (Laughter.)  The Prayer Breakfast we started last year, in part because it gave me a good excuse to bring together people who have been such extraordinary influences in my life and such great friends.  And it gives me a chance to meet and make some new friends here in the White House.

I wanted to host this breakfast for a simple reason -– because as busy as we are, as many tasks as pile up, during this season, we are reminded that there’s something about the resurrection -- something about the resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ, that puts everything else in perspective. 

We all live in the hustle and bustle of our work.  And everybody in this room has weighty responsibilities, from leading churches and denominations, to helping to administer important government programs, to shaping our culture in various ways.  And I admit that my plate has been full as well.  (Laughter.)  The inbox keeps on accumulating.  (Laughter.)

But then comes Holy Week.  The triumph of Palm Sunday.  The humility of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.  His slow march up that hill, and the pain and the scorn and the shame of the cross.

And we’re reminded that in that moment, he took on the sins of the world -- past, present and future -- and he extended to us that unfathomable gift of grace and salvation through his death and resurrection.

In the words of the book Isaiah:  “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

This magnificent grace, this expansive grace, this “Amazing Grace” calls me to reflect.  And it calls me to pray.  It calls me to ask God for forgiveness for the times that I’ve not shown grace to others, those times that I’ve fallen short.  It calls me to praise God for the gift of our son -- his Son and our Savior.

And that’s why we have this breakfast.  Because in the middle of critical national debates, in the middle of our busy lives, we must always make sure that we are keeping things in perspective.  Children help do that.  (Laughter.)  A strong spouse helps do that.  But nothing beats scripture and the reminder of the eternal.

So I’m honored that all of you have come here this Holy Week to join me in a spirit of prayer, and I pray that our time here this morning will strengthen us, both individually as believers and as Americans.  And with that, let me introduce my good friend, Bishop Vashti McKenzie, for our opening prayer.

 

Dr. Raj Shah

    Why did the President make a big deal of introducing one of his appointees at a prayer breakfast celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ?  Why introduce unrelated issues to a spiritually oriented function?  Perhaps it fits into the pattern of the Passover statement, with its polemical concluding paragraph.  Could it be that he had a similar screed ready for delivery at the prayer breakfast but omitted it for some reason? 

good excuse

    That is the sort of throw away phrase that appears incongruous in a situation of this nature. A celebration of the most profound act of deity is hardly to be considered as an excuse.  If he wanted to have a party to reward old friends and make new ones, he could do it privately, without publicity and finance it from his own funds rather than having us pay for it.

something about the resurrection

    When I heard Rush Limbaugh read those words on his radio show, I immediately recalled the title of a certain movie which featured a girl with a sticky substance in her hair, which formned a cowlick.  That is hardly the sort of association proper to be made with the event being celebrated.

    How, exactly, does the passion, death & resurrection of Jesus Christ put current political affairs in perspective?  Perhaps it shows us the truly small and petty nature of the man who used the phrase.

puts everything else in perspective

    Perhaps it puts the Jewish Temple sacrifice rituals into perspective, but it does nothing for temporal issues of rule & ruin imposed by dictators & demagogues. 

grace and salvation

    God manifested himself in human  form, to be able to share humanity and communicate directly with mankind on our level. He sacrificed his human life and restore it to himself to demonstrate his power over death. 

the gift of our son

    Our son?  In the next phrase, he uses the correct terms. I wonder whether the expression was an error or was intended to send some sort of perverse theological message.

    Why is it that there was no proclamation of Good Friday or Easter?  Freedomeden has the details of inconsistency,. Thee is another question: of sincerity. Two quotes from one of his biographies raise doubt.

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance  By Barack Obama

Page 163

I realized then, standing in an empty McDoinald's parking lot in the South Side of Chicago, that I was a heretic.  Or worse--for even a heretic must believe in something, if nothing more than the truth of his own doubt.

Page 286

 And I would shrug and play the question off, unable to confess that I could no longer distinguish between faith and mere folly, between faith and simple endurance; that while I believed in the sincerity I heard in their voices, I remained a reluctant skeptic, doubtful of my

    Was the Easter Prayer breakfast founded in sincerity or was it a political charade?  If it was purely spiritual, why was it followed by briefings with administration officials in which policy matters were discussed?

After the breakfast, I had the opportunity to join about 30 others at the White House for a meeting hosted by Joshua Dubois, the head of the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In short, the meeting was phenomenal for various reasons: Eugene Cho