From This Day Forward

         The second inauguration of Barack Obama as our president was a magnificent day.  There were moments that seemed to me to be stunning.  His walking down a part of Pennsylvania Avenue in the inaugural parade hand in hand with Michelle was one of them.  In his inaugural address he spoke of the great conglomeration that we are as the American people, a phrase so often used by politicians to make it seem as though they speak for everyone, when in fact they only represent a fraction of the people of the country.  I was proud of the president for the remarks that he made that painted the people of this country with a broad brush including all of us, many by category.  He talked of peace and inclusion, of hope and of moving forward all together.  He invoked the memory of Seneca Falls for the women’s movement, Selma for the civil rights concerns, Stonewall in the West Village for gay inclusion and Newtown for the pain of the parents.  It seemed to me that he was talking about a country that is basically liberal, despite all of the hatred that has been so evident on the far right.  That for me is what made this day so spectacular. 

            When the Hebrew people came back from their captivity by the Babylonians, they gathered together in wrecked Jerusalem before the Temple that had been destroyed and they listened to the prophet Ezra read to them the law.  When they heard it they wept, but Ezra told them to dry their tears and to get on with the work of restoring their home.

              After the brutal political campaign that we endured in 2012, I was pleased to see this day come as a day of possible unity rather than one of division.  I know that those ancient Hebrews also felt desolation in their broken surroundings.  I think that the President was very much aware of our brokenness this day as he spoke of who we are and what we need to do.

  It won’t be easy.  There will be much political contention in the coming year.  A great budget fight looms and our priorities must be thought out so that we can build this country, not tear it down.  I know that building is possible even in the face of difficulty.  Do we have the will is the only question before us.

            During the Civil War, the transcontinental railroad was in the process of construction.  During the Eisenhower years, the interstate highway system was built.   These things didn’t depend on anything other than our will to get them done.  We found the means once we decided that the necessity was upon us. 

            Even if we are a broken people with politics that can’t be reconciled, we have a responsibility to those who have little or nothing to be sure that they are provided for.  I can’t forget what Jesus said when he when to his hometown of Nazareth to speak to the people in the Temple.  He took the scroll of the book of Isaiah and read from the sixty-first chapter:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

                     to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

                This is what we need to do as a people: to be particularly concerned for those who are outside our community and to bring them in.  That is what I think the President was trying to tell us in his inaugural address.  I know it is a masterful agenda for the coming years.  May God bless us as we get on with it.