by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg
In the words of
Wikipedia, “The widow of a slain Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers
will help open the inaugural ceremony Monday. President Obama has selected
activist Myrlie Evers-Williams to deliver the invocation. She's the first woman
and lay person to have the honor.”
This is now past tense
instead of future and she did well, bringing honor to her gender, her race, to
that great host of godly laity she represented but especially to Almighty God
and his Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name she prayed.
I joined with Mrs. Evers-Williams
as she prayed for blessings on our nation and on every family throughout our
land, followed by a rousing and prayerful rendition of the Battle Hymn of the
Republic by the awesome Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and wonderfully sung again by
pop singer Beyonce.
Before President Obama
and his family came to the ceremony they joined the congregation at St John’s
Episcopal Church for a time of worship, as has been the custom of presidents
through the years.
When Associate Supreme
Court Justice Sotomayor swore in Vice President Joseph Biden it was in the name
of God. When Chief Justice John Roberts swore in our president, the oath
included and ended with the words “so help me God.”
I know we are not
perfect and have many failings, but I am convinced we are still “One Nation
Under God”. Sometimes we don’t act like it and many who are blessed by Almighty
God to live in this land do not recognize or worship Him.
When our president began
his speech with words from our Declaration of Independence, including “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights” he was recognizing our relationship, as a nation, with the God of all
creation, the only true and living God. I don’t know how deep his faith is, but
I am convinced that leading this nation of believers draws the president closer to God. It doesn’t
matter how the president feels about it when he/she comes into office, serving
a praying people who hold him up in prayer day after day, soon makes him realize
he could not survive without those prayers and in becoming thankful for those
prayers becomes ever more believing as he senses the strong support of Almighty
God in this awesome task as leader of this great nation.
I don’t know how many people
in the United States are believers in God. Most are Christians, (about 73%)
many are Jewish and a few are Muslims and other God-worshipping religious
groups. Although many believers in God do not recognize Christ as Savior, they are nevertheless
blessed by their relationship with God and they are blessed by the coming of
Jesus, whether they know it or not.
But all in all, we are a
Christian nation. Some scoff at such a concept and others scorn it if it were true
but don’t believe it is, but that powerful praying, preaching, believing horde
of godly men, women and children, who undergird our nation with their petitions
to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and who do their best to serve God
day after day—they are the ones who make this a Christian nation. It is their
faith that sustains us and brings us the favor of Almighty God.
Some question whether or
not our president is a Christian, and we know faith in Christ is not required
to serve in that high office, but regardless, we heard our president conclude
his speech with these powerful words, “Thank you and God bless you, and God
bless these United States of America”. We need to recognize that we really are
a nation under God and we remain a Christian nation, if for no other reason than
the sheer number of Christ-followers who make up the people of our land.
I’m Rick Blumenberg and
these are my thoughts on the Inauguration of President Barack Obama—My
View from here on Tanner Creek.
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