On Monday, January 4th, the 117th Congress celebrated its opening session with a prayer of invocation by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, an ordained minister in the Methodist Church. His prayer got a lot of attention, largely because of the unconventional way in which Rep. Cleaver closed it. Treating Amen as a gendered term, our highly esteemed representative balanced the scales by adding “awoman” to the closing line. It must be seen to be believed.
Here is the uncorrected transcript of the entire prayer provided by C-Span.
LET US PRAY. ETERNAL GOD, WE BOW BEFORE YOUR THROWN OF GRACE AS WE LEAVE BEHIND THE POLITICALLY AND SOCIALLY CLAMOROUS YEAR OF 2020. WE GATHER NOW IN THIS CONSEQUENTIAL CHAMBER TO INAUGURATE ANOTHER CHAPTER IN OUR ROLLER COASTER REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT. CONTROL OUR TRIBAL TENDENCIES AND QUICKEN OUR SPIRITS. THAT WE MAY FEEL THY PRIESTLEY PRESENCE EVEN IN MOMENTS OF HEIGHTENED DISAGREEMENT. MAY WE SO FEEL YOUR PRESENCE THAT OUR SERVICE HERE MAY NOT BE SOILED BY ANY UTTERANCES OR ACTS UNWORTHY OF THIS HIGH OFFICE. INSERT IN OUR SPIRIT A LIGHT SO BRIGHT THAT WE CAN SEE OURSELVES AND OUR POLITICS AS WE REALLY ARE, SOILED BY SELFISHNESS, PERVERTED BY PREJUDICE AND INVAGUELED BY IDEOLOGY. NOW MAY THE GOD WHO CREATE THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT BLESS US AND KEEP US. MAY THE LORD MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON US AND BE GRACIOUS UNTO US. MAY THE LORD LIFT UP THE LIGHT OF HIS COUNTNENCE UPON US AND GIVE US PEACE. PEACE IN OUR FAMILY, PEACE ACROSS THIS LAND AND DARE I ASK, O LORD, PEACE EVEN IN THIS CHAMBER. NOW AND EVER MORE. WE ASK IT IN THE NAME OF THE MONOTHEISTIC GOD AND THE GOD KNOWN BY MANY NAMES AND FAITHS. A MAN AND A WOMAN -- AMEN AND AWOMAN.
It seems appropriate to offer a few brief observations in response to this piece of public piety by one of our elected magistrates.
First, by adding awoman to the close of his prayer, he misgendered amen which is a loanword from Latin which transliterated the Greek αμήν (which also transliterated an earlier Hebrew word) and which translated means firm, certain, or so be it. Misgendering is a serious offense in these very serious times. I scarcely need to point out how inappropriate a gender binary is in closing a public prayer like this. Is our esteemed leader unaware of the many other gender categories now accepted and represented among his constituents? This error displays Rep. Cleaver’s cisgendered assumptions and intransigent male privilege. We hope an apology will be forthcoming from his office. We decline, however, to hold our breath as we hope.
Second, it is possible Rep. Cleaver is more intelligent and sophisticated than us all and deliberately misgendered amen in order to make a dramatic statement regarding the equality of women. However, since amen, so interpreted, would be a plural masculine reference, the inclusion of awoman creates a further imbalance by introducing a singular alongside the plural. Women were not represented by the Representative, only a-woman. This likewise is a serious offense in our very serious times, and we look forward to a clarification and correction from Rep. Cleaver’s office. We decline, however, to hold our breath while we wait.
Third, we admire and commend the Representative’s desire that the proceedings of the 117th Congress of the United States not be soiled. It was a noble petition, albeit a vain one. Perhaps he should have prayed, “May these proceedings not be further soiled once I finish what I’m doing here.”
It has been observed by others for some time that satire is becoming impossible in our society. If Rep. Cleaver set out to compose a parody prayer highlighting the most absurd, blasphemous, and contemptible features of the Democratic Party’s current agenda, he scarcely could have done better. “Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22). Indeed. There are, however, two serious points I wish to suggest for the believing Church, i.e. the Church that has the sense not to allow Rep. Cleaver to lead a prayer or serve as a minister.
First, the Church should lament and pray that such blasphemy is celebrated in the halls of government. “Rivers of water run down from my eyes, Because men do not keep Your law” (Psa. 119:136). Rep. Cleaver’s prayer will not bring divine blessing upon our nation. Pray as those to whom God has promised to listen. The prayers offered from the podium in Congress may not be received in heaven; your prayers offered in your congregation and closet will be. Pray for Rep. Cleaver’s repentance. Pray for God’s mercy upon a sinful nation, laden with iniquity. And pray for God to restrain, reform, or entirely remove those who would advance a godless, unbiblical, and destructive program.
Second, the Church should laugh with scorn and rejoice in the inevitable triumph of the Son. We must tread carefully here. No doubt some will take offense. I do not say we should treat Rep. Cleaver with scorn, only his worldview, platform, and prayer. This is the kind of foolishness the prophet Elijah mocked on Mt. Carmel, and he did so in terms far less polite than would be tolerated by many enlightened evangelicals on social media. If you imagine yourself to be more enlightened, polite, and Christian than God’s prophets, it is time to put down the device on which you are accessing social media, and pick up a Bible. The former is making you stupid. The latter can make you wise.
And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention. (1Kings 18:27-29)
This is what you fear? These are the people who cause you to wring your hands and lose sleep at night? Seriously? You tremble because so much of our nation is embracing a godless, anti-Christian agenda, yet you cannot see that such a program is doomed to destruction by the foolishness of the very people who promote it? The Lord will not have to knock this kingdom down; he only has to step out of the way. These are ideologues who think that Amen is a gendered word. They believe a boy can decide he is a girl and the rest of the world must not only go along with his madness, they must approve of it. They believe protecting sea turtles eggs is a moral priority and so is allowing a woman to kill her unborn child. Civilizations that declare sodomy as marriage, transgenderism as sanity, and abortion as healthcare have lost the right to use the term civil as a self-designation. Societies that make a sacrament of barren sex and abortion are signing a Do Not Resuscitate order on the day they appear. They will not last. They cannot. They do not believe in children.
Turn off the news, and read your Bible. Love your wife and have lots of babies. Pray, sing, and study Scripture with your family. Catechize those kids to the point they start seeing things in the Word of God you haven’t yet noticed. Be part of a faithful church. Work hard. Spend less than you make. Enjoy creation and all of God’s good gifts. Live joyfully every day. Rejoice that the sun is still shining even if it is hidden for a while behind clouds full of rain. Rep. Cleaver has given believers a tremendous reason to be encouraged at the beginning of this new year. Do not miss the opportunity to rejoice that Jesus is and always shall be King! --JME
