A New Day

          I just finished watching the Inauguration of our 44^th president, Barack Hussein Obama.  Wow!  Did you ever, in your wildest imagination, think that America would ever elect a person with a Muslim name like Barack Hussein Obama?  Think of the names of our presidents: Washington, Lincoln, Madison, I could go on and on … not an ethnic name among them.  Now we have an Obama! Isn’t that great?  Not only that … this is the first black president in our nation’s history.  Historic moment!  I think it says a lot about how far we have come in breaking down our prejudices and bigotry. 

As Thomas Freidman said, “For one day, for one hour, let us take a bow as a country.  Nearly 233 years after our founding, 144 years after the close of our Civil War, and 46 years after Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, this crazy quilt of immigrants called Americans finally elected a black man, Barack Hussein Obama, as president … But we cannot let this be the last mold we break, let alone the last big mission we accomplish. Now we need to write some new history – one that will reboot, revive, and reinvigorate America.”

I am proud of America.  Haven’t been able to say that for a while.  It doesn’t make any difference if you are a Republican or a Democrat.  It doesn’t make any difference if you voted for McCain or Obama.  This is a banner day for America.  And don’t think that the world hasn’t taken notice.  We have always been the country where we held the high ground.  We have been the country where we valued our ethical standards.  We can be that again. 

As the Rev. Rick Warren said in his inaugural invocation: “Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all ... Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.”

I guess that is the call to us as people of God as we move forward as a nation, as a community, and as a church.  That certainly is my prayer for President Obama.  As we begin this new era of hope and expectancy, may we all continue to pray for peace, and justice, and love.  May we pray for our leaders that God’s wisdom may seep into their wisdom, that God’s compassion be expressed through their compassion, and that God’s vision be linked to their vision.

And then that we may stand up and be counted among those who not only talk the talk, but walk the walk.