The Morning Sentinel

April 2

The presidential invocation that wasn't

BY AMY CALDER Staff Writer

WATERVILLE -- The Rev. Mike Young of the Universalist Unitarian Church of Waterville thought he was going to give the invocation Thursday at President Barack Obama's appearance in Portland.

But when he arrived after noon, he said he learned that plans had changed and that he would instead sit with the audience. He didn't cite a reason for the change.

Young conducted a memorial service for Obama's grandmother in December 2008 in Honolulu when Obama was president-elect.

Young was minister at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu for 14 years before moving to Maine to become interim pastor of the Waterville church last August.

Obama's grandmother reportedly took him to the Honolulu church to attend Sunday school when he was a child.

Young said he was contacted by an Obama representative and asked to speak in Portland.

Young acknowledged in good humor that he was honored.

"I have no delusions of grandeur about it," he said, before leaving for Portland. "It's just that I'm probably somebody they consider safe -- unlikely to do a gaffe."

Young said he wrote the short prayer he had planned to deliver.

"The only piece that's unusual about it is, it's an interfaith prayer, rather than being sectarian," he said.

It began: "We will invite into our awareness the presence in our midst of the best and highest that we know," he said.

He also planned to talk about common values shared as part of the richness of such a diverse community, he said.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com