MLK Invocation
January 21st, 2008 by Marc
I was honored to give the invocation at today’s Martin Luther King, Jr. breakfast.
This was the first time I’ve written an invocation down. Mine are normally off the cuff. (It’s amazing how similar the content “off the cough” or “moved by the Spirit” prayers can be. Usually some thankfulness for the weather and for the people present. And sadly little else.)
This event seemed worthing of a written prayer. I guess my Episcopalian roots were showing. 
Being a good Gen-Xer, I googled “MLK Invocations.” I figured with multiple editions of the Book of Common Prayer online, surely there would be some MLK day invocations I could use for a starting point.
I was wrong.
All that search and many other variations brought up were the names of others giving invocations at MLK events.
*sigh*
So I started where I should’ve any way: asking God to give me the words. (Actually, I think I did ask that when I hit the “search” button on Google too…)
Here’s what I came up with. I’m posting it for two reasons:
- maybe it will be a starting point for others in my situation using Google with similar results and
- It’ll be easier for me to find this in the future. I’ll never find the journal I wrote it in if I’m asked to do this next year!
Here it is:
Let us pray.
Lord, we welcome Your Presence here. Thank Your for the life and legacy of Your son, Martin Luther King, Jr. May this time together not be merely a check off of our annual “to-do” list, not merely self-righteous remembrance of some slowly fading past.
Lord, please take this offering of our time and attention and fill us with the same Spirit that compelled Your son Martin. Let all of us, as people of our respective faiths, move toward dismantling injustice in all of its various forms–even here in the Greater Waterville region.
And in particular, may those of us who are followers of Jesus, be as captivated by the person of Jesus as Your son Martin so that we would strive to see the day when every tribe, every tongue, and every nation worship You with no division but in Spriit and in Truth.
We ask this in Your precious Name.
And all God’s people said:
Amen
This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 10:21 am and is filed under church planting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 21st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Beautiful. Thanks Marc.
January 21st, 2008 at 3:05 pm
oh, that last paragraph gave me goose bumps - nice invocation (if that’s what you say for a good prayer, Oh, I guess I should say a hearty AMEN Brother!)
January 21st, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Thanks Rob!
Renee: I’ve been intrigued by the number of compliments I’ve gotten. I’m deciding it’s because God showed up.