Our Record-Bee newspaper’s front page always has good headlines. One Saturday the headline read:
“City approves invocation”
They were reporting on the forward thinking Clearlake City Council. A while ago, the council decided, at first, to hold prayer before each meeting. That got everyone excited so they changed the word, prayer to invocation. When they first decided on prayer, I gave them a thumbs up. I said so in the Opinion section of the Record-Bee on Sept. 3. They need the help, no matter what God they pick.
The Clearlake council is just being honest. Those forward-minded folks apparently need help pretty badly to go right to the top. Maybe we need council members who will depend on themselves more. I suspect the deity prefers that we handle our own problems and not go mewling to Him or Her over every little thing.
I can’t argue with their second choice of words for prayer. Invocation is a wonderful word. The dictionary says it means, “The act of petitioning for help or support.” Who doesn’t need help when such weighty questions must be decided? I certainly would.
I can see only one small bug in my oatmeal. With such a high-flown word as invocation, but does not name the helper, how do we know to whom they’ve given the job? I want to know if He, She, or It is up to such a huge and important task.
Let’s call a spade a spade. Name the person, or persons, the council is secretly asking to be a part of our government. Who is it; Odin, Baal, Ra, Howdy Doody, or spirits? Pastor James Lujan of the Calvary Chapel of Clearlake had the cajones to call the council to task. He said right out, “I thought the council approved for prayer. If we change it to invocation we aren’t asking for guidance from God.”
I agree with Pastor Lujan. If I was God I would not be happy with the council even if she is a mind reader.
One resident of Clearlake, Chuck Leonard, suggested we should not use prayer and invocation synonymously. Chuck implied the council wants them to mean the same thing. How come he’s so worried? Only an idiot would think that the council was using the word invocation to stay on the fence by substituting that word for prayer. Of course they are not. By having an invocation before each council meeting, the council is merely asking help of … well … someone that they must have in the back room and would prefer not to identify.
We shouldn’t be too hard on the Clearlake City Council. Look at our Supreme Court. Five old ladies voted in a split decision to allow prayer. These old grandma’s weaseled by saying, “as long as all faiths are welcome to say their piece, and there is not a pattern of trying to convert the city council or take digs at anybody’s God,” the prayer (or invocation) doesn’t violate the First Amendment. The council’s open-minded attitude might pose a problem. I heard that an ISIS cleric head chopper is on his way to one of the meetings to give his interpretation of Allah’s will.
If I understand the brouhaha over this disagreement perhaps I would be smart enough to run for city council. I thank (whomever or whatever the city council is asking for help) I’m not that smart.
Gene Paleno is an author and illustrator living in Witter Springs. This is a rerun of thoughts published in the fall.
