I have told myself that I would post a new entry once a week, every Tuesday. . . but today is not just any Tuesday. Nor is today just any election. Today is the day when we vote for the kind of country we want to be. Though I voted two weeks ago, today is the day when I reflect with much gratitude for the tireless work that has been done by so many to make sure that every voice is heard. Today is a today when I proudly say I have done my part, but also feel I should have done more. So to all you who did so much, I offer my gratitude.
Beyond that, I wait with bated-breath. I hope with many people around the world that the people who have the power to make a change will. Over the past few weeks, I have heard from many of my friends around the world who remind me that what happens within these borders affects the borders of everyone else. Yet they are powerless.
My hope is that one week from now, I will have words of joy and forward movement, but for now I anxiously wait for tomorrow. The words that stir in my heart do not belong to me, but to Dr. Rev. Joseph Lowery. The excerpts from his benediction below where heard before the Capital at Barack Obama’s first Inauguration, but they mean almost as much to me now as they did to me then.
“God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.
Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.
We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we’ve shared this day.
We pray now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, the president of these United States, his family and his administration.
He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.
Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.
For we know that, Lord, you are able and you’re willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.
We thank you for the empowering of thy servant to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.
And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.
And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.
And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.
We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won’t get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.
With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.
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 in back, when brown can stick around … when yellow will be mellow … when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen, say Amen. Amen!”