A while back, in the first decade of this century, Moody Publishers offered a prayer journal notebook by E.M. Bounds. This Methodist minister died in 1913. During the 70-plus years of his life, he wrote several books on prayer. One of his classics is titled Power Through Prayer. (Available on Amazon.)

I used the Bounds journal-style notebook for several years. It was titled, Memos to God. Each day, the user was invited to consider a reading from Bounds and then journal daily thoughts on “Adoration,” “Confession,” “Thanksgiving,” and “Supplication.” This is sometimes referred to as the ACTS method of prayer.

Bounds was very quotable. A sampling would include,

“Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer can move God.”

Another gem of his says,

“Prayer honors God, acknowledges His being, exalts His power, adores His providence, secures His aid.”

At the January 20th inauguration of Donald J. Trump, several voices were given the opportunity to pray. One of those was Dr. Franklin Graham. Also, Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Rabbi Ari Berman, president of an Orthodox Jewish school in New York. The final “blessing” was provided by another Catholic priest, Father Frank Mann —a close friend of President Trump, now a retired priest from Brooklyn.

The most inspiring prayer warrior of all was Pastor Lorenzo Sewell. Social media was abuzz with his fiery style; his imploring heaven for intervention on behalf of the new POTUS.

Missing from the prayer assignments was a Muslim cleric from Michigan. He was to speak after the Jewish rabbi. So what happened? Apparently, some old videos surfaced in which he denied Hezbollah was a terrorist group and his appearance was cancelled. (Ya think?)

On Tuesday, there was an inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral. At this soup mix of theology, the President and Vice President along with family members, were treated to voices of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, LDS, and Sikh leaders. Wow…quite the “ecumenical gathering.”

Oddly, absent from the clergy list to speak were any conservative evangelicals. Why mess-up the party?

But apparently the star of the show was the Right Reverend Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, D.C. Makes me wonder if the Episcopals have any “Left” Reverends? Oh wait. Ms. Budde covers that ground as well.

Her homily, sermon, message—whatever your group calls these utterances—just about set the place on fire! Boy did she lay it on thick, giving the President a verbal paddling on his political beliefs. As is often the case when hearing packaged goods on moral principles without the foundational underpinnings of wisdom, it got out of hand.

Embarrassingly, several of my faith-sharing brothers and sisters on social media posted what a brave soul the Right Reverend Budde was. And she was “Right” on target to some of them.

Of course, that depends on what target you’re using!

She challenged the returning Leader of the Free World to step up his game on compassion. And mercy.

Notably for minority groups including the LGBTQ community. Of course. She spoke of

“…gay, lesbian and transgender children … some who fear for their lives.”

FYI—fear sells well to progressives. As one writer put it,

“Progressive people of faith found in her an inspiring example of “ speaking truth to power.”

(Not sure the recently retired Joe Biden allowed people to do that.)

Chris Enloe, in an excellent column for Blaze Media, offered this insight on the Budde message:

“Mercy and compassion without truth, repentance, and justice become sin-enabling affirmation.”

Process that for a while.

Make no mistake. The Right Reverend Budde has influence. She is the first woman to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Been there since 2011. She has oversight for some 86 churches across DC and Maryland with approximately 38,000 members. (In her teens she self-identified as an evangelical for a while. Life is full of surprises.)

Several prayers at the inauguration and the Budde message draw me back to Memos to God. When we pour out our spiritual sounding fruit (in prayers or sermons), are we really speaking the language of God? Or is our language our own adaption of what we think sounds holy? God help us.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 put it this way:

“Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” (HCSB)

My view? We could have done better with less of the Budde system of thought.