It maybe hasn’t been the easiest month to be Rick Warren.

People were quick to criticize Barack Obama’s choosing him to pray the inaugural prayer – not only those opposed to Warren’s views on issues like same-sex marriage but also people who share the same views but saw something compromising about Warren taking part in Obama’s inauguration.

These critics were in the minority, according to a Gallup Poll, which found most Americans either supported Warren giving the prayer or simply didn’t know or care that he’d been chosen. But still, there was a lot of media coverage of what controversy did arise, and there was speculation, too, over whether Warren would invoke the name of Jesus.

The fact that he did didn’t surprise me. I would have been more surprised, really, if he hadn’t. As Franklin Graham said in a Dec. 30 Associated Press story, “For a Christian, especially for an evangelical pastor, the Bible teaches us that we are to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. … If you don't want someone to pray in Jesus' name, don't invite an evangelical minister.”

What has surprised me some is the extent to which the prayer has been dissected a day later. Some have found it inclusive (except, of course, that part at the end with the J-word). Some have found it much too exclusive due to that end. I think the bottom line, though, is that the point of a prayer shouldn’t be to please an audience.

Maybe knowing that – and knowing, too, that “prayers are not to be sermons, speeches, position statements nor political posturing,” as he told the Associated Press last month – made the past month not so tough for Warren, after all. As the critics have shown, it’s a lot easier to aim to please one Person than to meet the expectations of millions.