We all know that last Thursday was Groundhog's Day. This year Punxsutawney Phil stuck his head out of his cage and saw politicians instead of his shadow. The caption that appeared below the image you see here, continued to say "Nine more months of bull...(expletive deleted)". What you might not know is that Thursday was also the day the National Prayer Breakfast was held in Washington D.C. It gets very little mainstream press, and yet in my mind is one of the most remarkable events that takes place annually in our nation's Capital.
Imagine a large percentage of the House, Senate, Judiciary, and White House meeting with 4,000 friends from every state in the US, plus dignitaries from 150 nations. Then imagine them all coming together (Republicans and Democrats alike) in the name of Jesus, and a spirit of unity, to pray together. Seems to me that would be newsworthy! Nancy Pelosi gave the New Testament reading and I didn't see one newspaper tell the story. The President spoke of Jesus' concern for the poor and how his thinking about Jesus has shaped his policies. He didn't speak about how his understanding of Jesus led to forcing Catholic institutions to provide birth control and abortion benefits to their employees, but that is another discussion.
This year's keynote speaker was Eric Metaxas. Eric is the author of two great books, Amazing Grace, on the life of William Wilberforce, and a new book, Bonhoeffer; Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer - the German pastor who helped lead the resistance movement against Adolf Hitler and was put to death for his part in an assassination attempt on Hitler.
Eric knocked it out of the park. His quick and sardonic wit had the audience in stitches and the President squirming. But the true value of his speech was to be found in his great plea to the gathering to make sure you aren't just being "religious", but that you are actually following Jesus.
In the coming months, we are going to be bombarded with political ads (as if we aren't already). When you are feeling discouraged and have an uneasy feeling that many politicians seem to be self-serving morons, know that there are actually people in Washington who are there for the right reasons, trying to do the right thing, crossing party lines to pray and share life together, and actually trying to follow Jesus. I find this encouraging.
PS - Aren't we all self-serving morons, anyway:)
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