I watched from a local movie theatre, in amazement. The day was as big as the screen: Rick Warren invoking Jesus’ name in 4 languages. Aretha – and her hat – plaintively evoking God’s grace to be shed on the country. A quartet mirroring the virtuosity and diversity of the nation, playing the American original, “Simple Gifts.” (A poem read that I still don’t understand.) The swearing in of our nation’s first African-American president, on the capitol steps, amid chants of his name. Steps forged by the hands of slaves. His words:
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
An old preacher speaks, evoking the prophets Amos and Micah, as well as remixing old, bitter race colloquialisms.
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.
I bet Rev. Lowery never thought he would live to see the day when someone who shared his skin tone would be taking the oath of the presidency.
I never thought I’d see the day.
I know that many people, many of my evangelical brothers and sisters, are disappointed, disenchanted, and disturbed because Barack Obama is president. Some are so incensed that they choose to turn a blind eye to the significance of Inauguration Day; they don’t talk about it, they don’t acknowledge it, and they don’t give other people the right to marvel about the history that has been made.
You may be one of those people. If you are, this post is for you.
I understand why you feel the way you do; you hate liberalism, and rightfully advocate for the sanctity of life, in the midst of the genocide of the unborn. Your reasoning is righteous.
I also understand, and would like you to understand, that it’s okay that I’m marveling that a Black man is the president, and that it doesn't mean that I am a baby-killer. President Obama - this phrase is unprecedented. I've never seen a Black First Lady, or presidential children who wear their hair like mine. You may not think about this because you've had the luxury of not having to.
To turn your back on the history of the moment is to benignly neglect many of your brothers and sisters and fellow citizens, whose ancestors survived the Peculiar Institution, who remember a time of segregation, who have endured and still endure institutional racism (and yes, it does still exist), who have struggled for acceptance and a place in your schools, country clubs, and especially your churches – you snub them (you snub me) when you ignore the significance of this Inauguration Day.
Hear me out.
During this campaign many Republican evangelicals, who are supposed to uphold the values of Christianity, at times used tactics based on fear, racism (my name is “Sharifa.” It’s Arabic. Am I a Muslim extremist? What’s the significance of saying “B Hussein O” in political forwards or Facebook statuses?), suspicion, and terror. Those tactics lost. Yup, there was media frenzy in favor of Obama. There was also a powerful, nation-wide, energetic, grass-roots campaign whose message of change and hope was such a refreshing sound to the American people that he won, despite all odds.
Hope and change are brands that are a vital part of the Christian faith, co-opted for a presidential campaign. The first grass-roots effort originated with Jesus and His disciples, spreading the Good News like flowing rivers in a parched and weary land. Hope was infused in the message, not the government. That message begat an unparalleled movement.
Our message and movement should be about hope, change, salvation, unity, working together, restoring, and peacemaking. Not disparaging forwards, hateful speech, and insensitivity. Why are we not cornering the market on these fruits of the Spirit?
Obama is no savior.
Jesus is. Yes He can.
The message of hope, change and salvation is on the lips of so many people across the globe. When you make the choice to ignore the significance of Inauguration Day, you lose a chance to dialogue with the world on fundamental topics of the faith.
I understand that you’re disappointed and dejected. But don’t miss out on having important exchanges with people who voted differently from you because you are commiserating with people who already believe as you do. Have one-on-one conversations; find out what motivated people to believe as they do. And find a way to tell them about the hope of the Savior.
Because even if you choose to turn your back, the rest of the world is looking at our nation’s historic moment, and marveling.
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If only our national (actually all) politicians and national media could engage in dialog in this respectful and loving way, what a different world this would be! Thanks for the honesty, struggle and integrity of each post!
Hey Sharifa : ) I too love our dialogues so much. I certainly do hear what you are saying. Please, please don't think I am not happy - thrilled - that this could happen in our country, in this day and age. I too care about issues of race and poverty so much. I live it here every day. And I have talked about this with people, lots. I don't want to degrade anyone (much less, you, my friend) for acknowledging history, any more than I want to be degraded for not being happy while history was being made - for wishing that this historic moment could have been associated with someone who does not stand against the things of God, as I believe Barack Obama does on so many things.
I was thrilled when Condoleeza Rice was appointed Secretary of State. I mentioned that to many of my African-American friends. They told me she's "not really black". Does it sound crazy? I know you wouldn't say such a thing. But I heard it from so many people, and I never understood that. Today Michael Steele became the head of the RNC - I saw you posted that on your facebook. I celebrate that - but I don't think many people will. I guess what I am saying is that "black" has, to many people within the African-American community, at least where I live, become associated with certain ideological positions. And I don't think that these ideological positions are biblical. PLEASE DON'T GET ME WRONG HERE. I have not made this association personally - but unless one is a liberal democrat, they are not considered "really black" by many of my friends in the African American community.
So - I absolutely do acknowledge the historicity of this day, and on that level am so happy. But my happiness is small compared to the sadness I feel for our country, for the Church, and for the unborn.
Yes, even though it is not politically or even Christian-ly correct anymore, I still hold that we as Christians have as our first responsility to STOP THE STATE SANCTIONED SLAUGHTER OF OUR UNBORN in our nation - and now the unborn around the world, as the ban on our nation's promoting and paying for this has just been reversed. To Sandy - thanks for your honest comments, I think they were a response to mine : ) I do think all the things you mentioned are important, but there is a difference between sanctioning, promoting and paying fo something that should be illegal (murder), and not doing enough to do things that we think should be done by the government. Living in one of the worst neighborhoods in one of the worst cities of America, I have seen how our government "helps" the poor. To put helping the poor one one hand (which is very arguably *not* helping the poor at all), and stopping the slaughter of the unborn on the other, and saying it is an equal choice - well, I think that is where the Church has gone astray in recent years. In a major way. And I am working with all my might to be that voice that says "this is wrong" and to keep Christians from being shamed into thinking they are "one-issue voters".
So Sharifa, I don't know... I want to "get it" with regards to the racial aspect. I am trying *so hard*. I just can't get to where you are. But I do want you to know that I think it is wonderful that our country would not fail to elect someone because of their skin color. I honestly do. And I hope that it continues to encourage people in ways that will help them to do even greater things, lead and empowered by our Lord.
In any case, I want to let the Lord teach me to love more fully those whom I so passionately disagree with, especially in the Church. That is my prayer, to truly understand what it means to speak the truth, and what it means to do so in love - love that I really feel and show, not just talk about. Thanks again for the great dialogue, I always get so much out of it.
...this is a video by Nick Canon (singer, married to Mariah Carey). He DJed at the Inauguration Ball that was televised.
I think this is an example of the tension: clearly he has a specific opinion of the abortion debate, and he also was present and active on Inauguration Day.
Sharifa, I do appreciate how you always write from your heart. I've known you for several years now and I respect you a lot. It's so interesting how people who have a similar heart on so many things can be so different on such a major one. I don’t know Sharifa. I guess you and I will just have to agree to disagree on this one : ) While I was not seething on inauguration day, I was deeply, deeply saddened. Saddened that we have elected a President who has set himself up against the things of God in so many areas. Saddened for how our nation made this decision, and saddened for what is to come.
OK, I am going to be really honest here, as I appreciated your honesty and perspective so much. To this moment, Barack Obama's skin color doesn’t mean that much to me. I have been taught since I was little that skin color doesn’t matter. I have learned that from the Bible. I have lived it the best I can in His power. So to be told now that I should put skin color over issues of vital importance – for that would be what rejoicing would mean to me – is just something I don’t get. I know this will sound crazy, but Barack Obama is half white – you don't hear that mentioned very often – does that mean we should rejoice more when a President with two black parents is elected? Ludicrous? Yes – to me the whole thing does seem so. I see the significance of this day and am happy that our nation has come this far. But like I said in my previous post on your blog, I simply cannot be happy that this *particular* man was elected, no matter what his skin color is. Sharifa, I'm not seething, but saddened. On the day of the inauguration, which was incredibly difficult for me, I was rejoicing, but in God's sovereignty and goodness even in times of sadness and uncertainty about the future.
I have learned a lot from this election and what has happened before and after it. I have been studying Ephesians lately, and I feel like it was written "for such a time as this" - for anyone who cared about this election at all, on either side, or who felt badly at all, on either side. It has helped me with relationships, and to understand how important the Church is, and unity in the Body even in the midst of divisive forces. The Church is the Body of Christ on earth, the one man God made from the two when he reconciled them to each other and to Himself. We need to keep together in the Church, with Christ as our Head - even when we disagree. So I think.... let's keep talking about these important issues, and let's keep doing it in love : ) I love reading your perspectives and though we probably couldn't be further apart here, I am thankful that what keeps us together is so much more powerful than what divides us.
I have made it a big part of my life work to champion the rights of the human embryo and fetus. I've served on boards, written books, given lectures, written checks and donated supplies. But I think where the Christian community has often missed the mark here is in failing to champion the sanctity of ALL life, and that extends beyond the unborn to active euthanasia, nuclear bombs, Darfur, eugenics, unlimited in vitro fertilization, the disposability of girls in China, Indian widows expected to kill themselves when their husbands die, etc. And our views of human dignity are grounded in God’s creation of humanity, but again, the principle of human dignity has ramifications beyond the unborn. It extends to sex trafficking, torture, hydration for people in vegetative states, slavery, POW standards, immigration policy, homelessness, poverty, and hunger. And racism.
As a theology professor once told me, "God is not color-blind. He sees the color. He made the color. It just doesn't matter." So on the one hand, we need to look at more than the color of a person's skin. Yet celebrating the inauguration because of Barak Obama's race is not necessarily a preoccupation with "color." For me it has been celebrating a milestone in race relations. I have rejoiced over what God has done in our country to help us overcome prejudice--the prayers He has answered that have been uttered by the oppressed for so long. The fact that on the very space where whites used to put slaves in CAGES, we saw the swearing-in of someone whose ancestors could have been put in those cages...this is an act of God. And if God can do such a miracle in our midst, if He can bring us back 45 years later to the same exact GROUND where a pastor led a non-violent revolution against injustice and in that space gather a diverse group of 1.8 million to witness a huge answer to prayers offered years ago, what other evil can He deliver us from?
James Weldon Johnson, the man who wrote the Negro National anthem, died before he ever saw the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr. And his were the words quoted in the closing prayer on inauguration day. Can you sense in them his longing for justice?
GOD of our weary years, GOD of our silent tears
Thou Who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path we pray.
We are in agreement that God is still on the throne. But whereas it seems you mean by that that “God is in control despite what happened on January 20,” for me and others like me, January 20 itself is evidence of His sovereign work in answer to the prayers of a great, great cloud of witnesses. Yes, our nation has many difficulties, and I suspect we both agree that liberal politics is not the answer to what ails it. But can we at least agree on this: that on the issue of race, “This is the LORD’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes”?
Jen, I just love you. :o)
Your last line is such a relief to me: "let's keep talking about these important issues, and let's keep doing
it in love...and though we probably
couldn't be further apart here, I am thankful that what keeps us
together is so much more powerful than what divides us."
Jen, what I am frustrated about is not the disagreement - it's the lack of acknowledgement or communication (something that's never been an issue between us!).
I think you make a good point about skin color (especially of a biracial man) not meaning as much as the content of one's character, as it were.
And yet...this time in history is still as significant as it is rare, because President Obama is the first person of color to be elected to the presidency in the nation's history. That, and, color still matters, still separates, still causes gulfs in understanding for most in this country. It was not more than 40-odd years ago - when Barack Obama was born - that the "one-drop rule" still applied. One drop of Black blood designated you to be Black. This rule was made so that after enslaved Black women bore children of rape who were mixed, they, too, would be considered slaves, and counted as additional property.
The color line is an American institution created and manipulated for profit and for oppression. It created a lingering culture of shame, shadism and inferiority in the Black community, and privilege and the luxury of ignorance in the White community. To see President Obama as a positive figure of color is, for so many people, a step in reclaiming our humanity and wholeness as a nation, and to rebuild a psyche that has been torn down. It puts the potency in the phrase "yes we can."
But Jen, what I am not saying is to put skin color over issues of vital importance. That would be irresponsible. This country thrives on checks and balances, and if they don't exist within government (as it seems now), they had better be tempered by the people. Keep championing for what's right. Please! Obama is not my messiah, and neither is the Democratic (or Republican) party. The brilliance of our system of goverment is in the tension of opposing parties creating and upholding laws, together.
What I'm asking (and this may be a tall order) is to live in the tension of championing for things that are right and godly, and understanding/acknowledging/dialoguing about how the historicity of this presidency has significance in America and the world; significance that supercedes Obama himself. In my opinion, it's unfair to degrade people for acknowledging history.
Sharifa, that was great! I agree. I was saddened that Christians would make me feel bad for feeling good about the day. God is so much bigger than the box we put Him in!
Thanks Sharifa, for saying it so eloquently. I couldn't agree more.
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