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The blogosphere is up in arms about Rick Warren giving the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration.

I’m with Southern Beale on this one.

Warren is what he is. I’m always suspect when someone is marketing Christianity for profit but I don’t buy his stuff so there is that. I had a discussion yesterday about churches with a friend of mine who is a devout Christian. I believe in what I believe in and it’s private for me. I don’t go talking about my spiritual being except with Homer occasionally. I find that everyone has their own spiritual agenda and I really hate getting into the “Your wrong, I’m right” line of conversation. Those conversations make me itchy and uncomfortable and I’m just no good at them as it tends to make me angry when it turns into that line of thinking. Give me a discussion and I’m there however. It always breaks my heart a little bit when people tend to dismiss other people’s faith so I tend to remain quiet.

What we discussed was basically what he called the Status Quo of religious organizations. I listened.

Our conversation reminded me of Warren. During our talk, I asked him that if Jesus indeed did come back, would we recognize him. Back in the day, he wandered the countryside, hung out with people who others had shunned and was basically homeless. He didn’t have a church with a sound system, you know what I’m saying here.

So would we recognize him?

My buddy mentioned, and this guy is the son of a Church of Christ minister, that sometimes people go to church, hit what he called a “spiritual” time clock and then left their faith until the next time church started going through the process again.

People basically need fellowship. Whether it’s at church, the round table over coffee at the local diner or over a beer with buddies at the end of a long day, we need each other. Those are my thoughts on the subject, at least.

So Warren is giving the invocation and Joseph Lowery, which is also a defining choice that makes a statement, will deliver the benediction. I do think Warren’s marketed his message quite well when it come to money but I just, quite frankly, don’t get evangelicals with megachurches like Warren. I don’t like the fact that he is very “hate the sin, love the sinner” when it comes to issues that I believe in. I’m still not sure if he gave McCain a bye when the two candidates met with him last summer

Good grief, it’s easier to talk about other things than spiritual well-being for me. That’s why I don’t do it very often.

As for Obama’s recent decisions, I agree with Kat Coble on this one who writes this morning this:

I certainly hope that Obama bears out the promise of his speechwriters, because I sure wouldn’t mind getting us back to the place where America is a dream of hope born in the minds of free people and not just a cash cow for an oligarchy.

I’m also going to say one other thing. As I see people I care about losing their jobs left and right, the idea of this huge inauguration that’s going to cost a fortune seems a bit excessive.

Oh well. That’s just me.