Political Prayer: Donald Miller and the DNC

Posted on | August 26, 2008 | 1 Comment

Donald Miller (of Blue Like Jazz fame) was called in to give the opening prayer at the DNC convention in Cameron Strang’s stead.

Aside from the strangely disconcerting way that Miller stared straight out into the audience as he prayed, the prayer seemed to fit the occasion quite well. And that’s the problem I have with it, actually. While there’s really no content I can disagree with, the context of the prayer gives it an entirely different meaning. There’s a good deal of sub-text that’s burbling just beneath the surface.

First, the positive aspects: yes, the prayer had its strong points. I was shocked to see Miller use a masculine identifier for God. Didn’t see that one coming. Also, Miller hinted at a certain criticism of Obama when he prayed for the wisdom to help real people, and not vague causes. It seemed worded slyly enough that I imagine a good portion of the audience missed the veiled exhortation.

However, the very nature of the event seemed to beg for theological confusion.

There were several little comments which seemed misjudged (e.g. assuming that the Almighty was an avid supporter of several contentious policies). But my two main criticisms boil down to context and Miller’s assumed foundation for unity.

Again, the content of the prayer seemed largely innocuous. But that’s the heart of the problem. Biblical prophets rarely get invited over to give a friendly benediction. Even when the reigning ruler is a man of true proto-messianic qualities, the prophet usually appears only to rebuke and call to repentance. When David decides to number the people, or steals Uriah’s wife, the prophets of Israel don’t make veiled references that no one will catch. They subvert categories, tell upsetting stories, and generally make themselves very rude guests. And this is for David. Let’s not even discuss men like Herod or the wayward shepherds of Jeremiah’s day. When Donald Miller led the entire DNC convention before the throne of God in prayer, he chose very valid concerns (better health care, more extensive college funding, etc), but concerns which would please the DNC audience. Regardless of whether you agree with these policies or not, Miller chose not to serve as a prophet. He chose to ally himself with his audience, and not stand outside, distinct, as biblical prophets always do. He chose his citizenship.

The second criticism follows from this. The climax of Miller’s prayer is a call for unity, which of course has good biblical merit (John 17). But here’s the problem: what’s the basis of the unity? Miller prays:

Lastly, Father, unify us. Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common. And unify us not just in our ideas, in our sentiments but in our actions as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.

Miller’s “us” is a national “us.” Ultimately, Miller asks God to unify America, restore America’s reputation, improve America’s health care, educational system, and so on—through the actions of a national-political people. Something seems very off here. Co-opting Jesus’ prayer for the unity of His Church for a national group seems to me a very difficult thing to accept. Confusion of kingdoms is nothing new on the left or right, but really–Miller should be much more careful than this. He joined in the secular liturgy of the campaign season, followed its unique rites, spoke out of the same prayer book, and was careful not to bump into the ornamentation on his way to the altar. If there had been an opportunity to be grasped (doubtful to me), it wasn’t seized with any of the prophetic zeal that was called for on the occasion.

Update (8/27): Halden muses on the same issue. Definitely worth the read.

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One Response to “Political Prayer: Donald Miller and the DNC”

  1. Political Pluralism at the DNC | Theopolitical
    September 2nd, 2008 @ 12:54 pm

    [...] Political Prayer: Donald Miller and the DNC [...]

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Theopolitical is the weblog of Davey Henreckson, a graduate student in theology at the University of Notre Dame. Topics of conversation are political and historical theology, with semi-frequent forays into literature, economics, localism, and the divine American sport -- baseball.

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