Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion has been a Saturday night staple on Minnesota Public Radio for years. Filled with stories, music and commercials from fictitious companies like Powdermilk Biscuits and Bertha's Kitty Boutique, the showcase of the program's second hour is the news from Lake Woebegone. Keillor claims Lake Woebegone as his hometown, a small place in Minnesota farm country filled with Norwegian bachelor farmers, Swedish humor and human drama that only exists in Keillor's vivid imagination. We are privy to Lake Woebegone's charm because of Keillor's delight in sharing his world in such a beautiful, gentle fashion. This past weekend a special treat was in store. Keillor took A Prairie Home Companion on the road to Tanglewood, Massachusetts, the summer home to the Boston Pops Orchestra. The whole broadcast was also recorded for PBS Great Performances, which aired Sunday night. Listening to A Prairie Home Companion is glorious. Seeing the program is even better. Oh, and one more tidbit was Meryl Streep, who acted in skits, read poetry and sang a sweet duet with Keillor.
But it was the show's closing that has stayed with me. An auditorium full of people joined the cast in singing an a capella hymn, America the Beautiful. The first verse moved easily from the peaceful, reflective gathering. The second and third verses were guided by Keillor, line by line. The camera scanned the faces in the crowd first, offering a deep, steady remembrance that this song was what our country is supposed to be about - beauty, abundance, caring for one another. The camera moved back to the stage, back to the faces that had entertained us so eloquently, and rested on the face of Meryl Streep. Ms. Streep was singing softly, appearing as though she was looking to the back of the room at something unseen to anyone else. Tears glistened in her eyes as she brushed several more from her cheek.
I realized my own eyes were filling with tears at the poignancy of the moment. I realized in that moment that my prayer for our country on this our two hundred thirtieth birthday was quite simple.
God, help us.
We need God's help if we are to ever pull ourselves out of this horror of occupation in Iraq. We need God's help to find a new way to interact with other countries in ways that are respectful and productive. We need God's help if we are to take responsibility for our country's direction in handling our own issues. We need God's help in determining how to overcome poverty and homelessness, to provide health care for all our people and equitable education for our children. We need God's help in helping each other, in being for each other, in ways that are tangible and that matter. We need God's help to live into the blessings God has granted our country with the intent of America the Beautiful. We worship a relational God, and we are citizen siblings who must overcome the family squabbles or we will lose the family business.
We need God's help to do justice to the vision of hope our founding mothers and fathers first crafted for us. We need God's help to expand this vision, to continually make it more inclusive, and not spend so much of our energy trying to keep people out. We need God's help to learn to love kindness and to act on that kindness everyday, in simply honest and profound ways that will change people's lives, including our own.
And we must, absolutely, welcome God's help to walk humbly in God's grace. This is my prayer for our country on our two hundred thirtieth birthday together.