In the name of Jesus
The Bible says in John 14:13 “And I ( Jesus) will do whatever you ask in my name. … You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Because of this scripture and others, I was taught to conclude my prayers “In the name of Jesus,” and I venture to suppose that the vast majority of Christians living today were taught to do the same thing. However, in a politically correct society, there has been a major effort to prevent people from praying in the name of Jesus in favor of something more generic — say, the Holy Trinity, God or just, “Amen.” To that end, almost all of the prayers heard in public places these days do not end in the name of Jesus.
Like many of you, I watched with appreciation the inauguration of Donald Trump becoming our 45th president. It wasn’t because of anyone in particular; it was because I am an American and was proud to watch our government transform into a new leadership team peacefully. So when it came time for the invocation prayer, I was surprised to see three people handling the spiritual part of the inauguration — two reading scriptures and one praying. And, if that wasn’t enough, there were two sets of inauguration invocations, both lead by three different people following the same basic format. As a chaplain, that got my attention, but what really reached out and touched me was that all of the prayers except the one by the Jewish Rabbi ended “in the name of Jesus.” Even one of the scripture readers ended his scripture reading by adding in the name of Jesus. Wow! I was impressed.
Although I’m sure it may not be true, I cannot remember when a presidential inauguration invocation prayer ended in the name of Jesus, and I am certain there has never been several participants who have done the same thing during the same inauguration. My personal reaction was “Maybe it’s OK to be a Christian these days.”
As a chaplain, I have been encouraged to make my prayers inclusive and to end them without offending anyone (probable an impossible task), and I remember when I was a pastor how we were informed that it was against the law to preach about politics from the pulpit and how we could only invite a political figure into our church if we invited everyone else running for the same office.
I have a confession to make. While I do not like to offend anyone, there is no way that I can actually offer up a prayer to God without it coming out of my own faith perspective, and to some degree I broke the law as a pastor in order to help my congregation think through all of the issues during political times.
To whom is someone praying these days?
Is the prayer directed toward God, the audience, the media, posterity, etc.? I would have been offended if the Jewish Rabbi at the inauguration had ended his prayer in the name of Jesus. He is not a Christian. But I would have been equally offended if the Christians had not ended their reading and prayers as they were taught and are practicing. When I pray, I direct my prayers toward God; if I cannot pray to God, then perhaps I should not pray at all.
I well remember living in Kansas when it was reported that the courts claimed it was against the law to have prayer in the Baccalaureate Services, and to the best of my knowledge every school board in the state canceled the services and turned them over to whatever group of ministers was organized in the school district. I think I was the only one who claimed that was not what the court said. It said that you cannot compel someone to pray your way. In other words, if you command everyone to stand while you pray, you are compelling them to join your prayer; but if you simply invite anyone who wishes to join you, it is permissible. I was vindicated when the same court said later that year that student-led prayers at sports events were legal, but no one paid any attention.
It is wrong to use the law or other means to compel others to believe and worship as you do, but it also is wrong to compel Christians to abandon their own faith in order to be like the rest of the religious community. Time will tell, but maybe, just maybe, it will be OK to be a Christian in our country again and for pastors to have the freedom of speech in the pulpit again. Pray about it.
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