A Prayer and A Sending for Charlotte, Our New Mayor

Dear Caldwell,

Through the prophet Isaiah, God told the children of Israel  to “seek the welfare of the city,” adding that “in its welfare you will find your own welfare.” This command to covenant community comes from the heart of God and is the foundation of God’s design for society.

Today begins a new chapter for our city, which has been in its own kind of exile for the last two weeks, following an FBI arrest of our now-former mayor. At midday today, Dan Clodfelter took the oath of office. A long-time state senator and former long-standing city councilman, Dan is a friend of Caldwell’s. His amazing wife, Elizabeth Bevan, spent hundreds of hours building and leading the Godly Play Sunday School for our youngest children. Dan has spoken here on issues of public policy as we seek a faithful response in these often-divisive times.

Today’s blog is an invitation for you to pray for our new mayor. Yesterday he asked me to offer the invocation for today’s swearing-in ceremony, which I was deeply honored to do. Mayor Clodfelter also lifted up the Fourfold Franciscan Blessing as a way to close today’s ceremony, a kind of benediction, or sending, for our entire community as it moves on from this unfortunate chapter in its leadership. I commend to you Mayor Clodfelter’s hope-filled remarks today at the ceremony, which I hope will be in the media. We are blessed to have such a humble yet wise and strong leader.

I offer both my prayer and the Franciscan Blessing below and invite you to pray for our Mayor, City Council, City Hall staff and entire community.  I will be back in touch with a blog post later this week focusing on Palm Sunday, as we bring Lent to a close and draw near, with Christ, to Jerusalem.

Invocation – Swearing in of Dan Clodfelter as Mayor, City of Charlotte

Rev. John Cleghorn, Caldwell Presbyterian Church

Great Creator and Provider, Lord of hosts, God of our many understandings,

We gather today to lift up our city and the man who has been called to lead it.

We do so with an abiding appreciation of those who in the past have taken today’s oath and responded as servant leaders. We give thanks for our city’s long tradition of honorable and good government.

Yet we also gather today with a new dose of humility … keenly aware of how precious the gift of trust truly is and how it must be earned and protected every day, whether it is trust in government or simply trust in each other as citizens to seek and do the right thing.

Through your prophet Isaiah, you instructed your children to “seek the welfare of the city.” So it is to you we turn again for instruction in how to fulfill that command.

Teach us again the meaning and the power of the common good.

Make us responsible stewards of our abundance and shared resources.

Remind us that to whom much is given, much is expected.

Plant deep within us empathy that replaces apathy.

Bind together our suburbs and our urban city streets with the threads of shared purpose and interdependence.

And form us, as city of such rich and growing diversity, into a model of mutual appreciation.

We ask your guidance because none of this is easy or for the faint-hearted. These can be harsh, divisive and punishing times for those who would lead. But we know you equip those whom you call.

Today we lift up a man of uncommon intellect, unwavering integrity, untiring energy and undying devotion to public service. Cover him, we pray, with a fresh anointing of your grace and wisdom, endurance and vision and a sense of justice and fairness – for those who live in mansions as well as those who live on the margins.

And now go ahead of him and all of us … and draw us into a future in which all who call Charlotte home can live in peace, find opportunity, contribute their ability and prosper.

Amen.

A Fourfold Franciscan Blessing – used by request of Mayor Clodfelter as a “sending for the city” at the conclusion of the ceremony.

May God bless (us) with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, superficial relationships … so that (we) will live deep in our heart(s).

May God bless (us) with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people … so that (we) will work for justice, equality and peace.

May God bless (us) with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, starvation and war … so that (we) will reach out our hands to comfort them and change their pain to joy.

And, may God bless (us) with foolishness to think that (we) can make a difference in the world … so that (we) will do things that others say cannot be done.

Amen