Hope & Change

I definitely have no intentions of making this blog political. That doesn’t mean I won’t blog about current events, but when I do, it’ll try to take a different, more spiritual perspective on them.

But this isn’t a political moment. This is a defining moment in American history. As we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, we are less than 24 hours away from inaugurating Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States of America. And as I’ve told a buddy of mine earlier today, it’s hard not to feel hopeful and optimistic about what’s going on in our nation right now. People seem to be coming together, ready and willing to roll up sleeves and get to work on our country. It is truly inspiring.

Then, I run across this on Huffington Post. The day after the inauguration, spiritual and religious leaders from every type of tradition — Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Judaism — are coming together to both pray for our leaders and our nation, but to “change the image of religion.” Says Jim Wallis on his post at HuffPo:

Each of us will look different, sound different and hold different beliefs, but each of us will humbly offer words of hope and blessing for our country and its leaders. Pastors and their place in the inaugural ceremonies have made quite a stir over the past few weeks. Questions have been raised about beliefs, politics, symbolism and representation. People on both sides of the aisle have been elated and enraged. The media, for the most part, has framed it as a left vs. right, conservative vs. liberal struggle and has been quick to call winners and losers.

What [the Rick Warren invocation controversy] has revealed and will soon become more clear is that the same old categories just don’t fit anymore. No matter all of the differences that the religious leaders assembled might have with one another, there is a common ground that has brought us all together. This common ground is the common good — for our country and our world.

A Message From God is very much about the concept of inclusion instead of exclusion, so it’s very exciting to see other spiritual leaders and theologians actively trying to emphasize civility among different religious traditions. It’s beautiful.

Read the entire post yourself. But take a minute, or as much time as you desire, to pray for our nation, it’s leaders, and for the world. Doing so adds to the kind of energy our world will need moving forward.

And speaking of service, Dr. King sends chills up my spine. I like chills.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/changing-the-image-of-rel_b_159100.html