UPDATE: Beliefnet interviews Gene Robinson
Robinson said he was huddled together privately with his daughter and partner, Mark, and his daughter reminded him that the last time the three of them were secluded in a hotel room was five years ago when the Episcopal general assembly was considering his consecration. Charges came forward that he was involved in sexual misconduct and linked to a pornographic website. He knew they were false but didn’t know whether he could disprove them in time.
“People were saying unspeakable things about me and my detractors, of course, were relishing that moment. Ella [his daughter] reflected last night what a difference five years makes… Here we were [Sunday] sequestered away again but now awaiting to speak before the new First Family, a million people gathered on the mall in Washington, at the invitation of the President of the United States. So it’s at least one indication of how far we’ve come in five years.”
Interview and video to come here.
Bishop Robinson reports the latest on his blog:
One addendum to yesterday’s posting: I have been invited to be on the President’s Platform for the inauguration/swearing in. An astounding honor!
From his blog last night:
When I got to the second petition of my invocation, the one where I ask God to “bless us with anger,” those million people got very quiet. It’s an unnerving experience to have a million people go silent as a result of what you are saying. It was then that the import of the moment hit me. I wanted it to be a moment for God, and of course, I will never know who or how many were touched by what was said. What I do know is that it was an indescribable honor to be asked to address God at this amazing occasion.
…..
I learned fairly early on that the live broadcast of the event would begin just AFTER I concluded my invocation. A decision made by HBO? Who knows? But I couldn’t help but wonder if the HBO-powers-that-be could not imagine that the nation would be interested in a religious prayer. For whatever reason, it was not to be broadcast. I learned a long time ago not to worry about those things over which I have no control! I was honored to be invited to give the invocation, and that’s what I intended to do.
More from +Gene on yesterday’s events here.
Pastor Dan at Street Prophets has written a thoughtful meditation on Bishop Robinson’s prayer that is well worth reading:
It makes me tremendously sad that anyone should find his comments at all exceptional, that we even have to remark on the difference between what he had to say and what we guess Rick Warren might say tomorrow. It certainly saddens me that we must consider the possibility that Robinson might have been cut out of the broadcast on purpose.
In saying that, I don’t want to point fingers at anyone. Or maybe I want to point fingers at everyone. Somehow we have lost all sense in this nation that faith is for everyone and against no one. A pack of wicked jackals has convinced America that the limits of belief in the Lord Jesus are defined by Randian economics and who does what with their naughty bits. That lot arose as part of an aggressive and malignant political movement built around the cornerstones of sanctimony, greed, and resentment, of course. But they were enabled by too many easy marks in the press, and yes, too many liberal believers who took it for granted that the public would understand that not all Christians were narrow-minded conservative ideologues.
We have failed America, we liberal Christians. We have failed to speak up loud and long enough to be heard over the din of our right-wing brothers and sisters so that our neighbors can hear the real message of Christianity: faith and hope and love.