For opening prayers, use open mind

Imagine that we are at a city council meeting and the agenda says that a guest clergyperson is invited to deliver the opening invocation to inaugurate the meeting. It is practically routine in our culture.

The guest clergyperson will arise, take the podium and offer a prayer. Most of the attendees listen respectfully and wait for the conclusion so the meeting can begin. It is like singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a ball game. As we conclude the national anthem everyone wants to begin the game as soon as humanly possible.

But can we imagine not having "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the umpire says "Play ball"? The invocation is a ritual that not only signals the meeting is about to begin but one which imparts a quasi-religious tone to the entire event. The invocation confers an aura of legitimacy and credibility to the proceedings.

And then there are times that when the guest clergyperson finishes the prayer with a concluding signature statement that invokes the deity's care over everyone in the room. If the clergymen and clergywomen invoke the name of their God, do they have a duty to be all-inclusive or ecumenical in the way they name their God?

One side maintains that the person should have the right to invoke the name of their God regardless of the possibility that many or a few in the room subscribe to the same religion.

Others will say that the clergyperson should modify the language of their tradition and recognize the obligation to be general. What is the right position?

I was a Rotarian for eight years in another community. I remember each week -- my attendance was spotty -- the ritual was to invite a member of the club to present an invocation. About 50 percent of the time the prayer invoked God's name in a general sense.

The rest of the time the person invoked the particular name of the deity. I spoke to the president of the club and respectfully asked that the leadership advise the members in advance to use language that did not exclude not only me as a Jew but anyone else regardless of their religion.

There were times when I felt they listened and understood and other times when they politely listened and ignored my request.

I understand that some people feel that when they pray they have every right and duty to be true to their faith tradition. The view, simply stated is, "I represent my faith and I would hope people would respect my conviction." But is that the point of offering an invocation?

In this role, the presenter is supposed to represent everyone in the room in a prayer before God.

The other way of looking at this is that if we offer a prayer, then we are not just representing ourselves or our own tradition but we are speaking on behalf of everyone in the room.

Someone said to me once, "If you are going to pray on my behalf then use language that I can feel drawn into this prayer with -- language that is all-inclusive." That person says, "If I do not belong to your faith then use language that does not leave me out in the spiritual cold."

Then we add to this discussion the ritual of giving an opening prayer at a public meeting like a city council meeting or at the school board meeting. What about when the public high school sport team is about to begin a game and the clergyperson is asked to give a prayer? Does the one player who does not belong to the majority religion just have to accept the reality that no one will ever say a prayer that is neutral enough to include his or her faith tradition?

What we forget when we give such a prayer is that we are speaking not only on behalf of ourselves but also on behalf of all who are attending the meeting.

It is easy to stand by a conviction. It is another thing to modify the language of that conviction, to compromise our liturgical habits, and to embrace all who do not share our faith tradition but who are willing to accept that prayer in the moment.

It does not matter if the person delivering this prayer is a member of the clergy, the point is that the privilege of offering an opening prayer, especially at a public institution like a city council, requires us to stretch our own theology in order to include those who do not belong to our religion. Of course there are those who believe that the "wall" that separates religion from the state should be so high that opening prayers at public meetings would seem inappropriate, but that is a topic for another day.

If we take the time to think this through and invest a little more energy to modify either the text or the context of such prayers, we might actually make a difference to bring everyone together in mutual respect and harmony.

Rabbi Brad L. Bloom is the rabbi at Congregation Beth Yam on Hilton Head Island. He can be reached at 843-689-2178.