The Next Day

Morning Meander January 20, 2009 Today I’ll take down the photograph of the president I’ve prayed for each morning over the past eight years and put up the photo of a new president. I’m thinking about using the striking mosaic offered by The Washington Post online edition this morning. At first I wasn’t sure about it, and then I realized that the composite wasn’t of viewers but by viewers. As it came into conceptual focus I was struck by way the image conveys all the myriad of perspectives we witnesses bring to this extraordinary, regular changing of the guard. http://specials.washingtonpost.com/inauguration/mosaic/ Some of us are moved to our marrow. Some of us are nervously willing to give it a chance. Some are already rolling up sleeves and pitching in while others are practically paralyzed by the roiling socio-economic landscape. All of those perspectives make up our nation and emerge from our own community. Yet because we believe that we are better together than alone, because we believe, in a way that finds expression every day, that we are our brother and sisters keepers, we can and must share our ideas and hesitations, joys and fears. It didn’t take long before an inauguration controversy emerged around who was praying when. I was kind of confused when I got multiple questions around the community about "the controversial preacher giving the benediction." The benediction was given by Joe Lowery, who founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with MLK, highly controversial in the 1950s and 60s, but now, not so much. (The Christian Century has a great article about the real designated lightening rod, Saddleback Pastor Rick Warren, that should be available on line next week, www.christiancentury.org ). I love the questions because they open conversation to different ways of looking at things, place us in that great mosaic instead of trying to hide behind it. We need ways to share our richly diverse ways of seeing with each other, prayerfully and in conversation grounded in God’s word, or we perpetuate the isolation that breeds pride, undercuts trust and cuts us off from others in our family of God. So share what’s going on in your life and through your mind. Share it with pew pals who may see from other angles. Share authentically, share lovingly, share constructively, and share in the hopeful presence of the living Christ. Let all who do justice and love mercy say amen and say amen. In the Joy of Seeking and Serving Christ with you, Karen