A Purpose Driven Inaugural
As my morning routine commanded, I awakened my computer with a shuffle of the mouse, and with coffee in hand sat down to read the morning news. I was shaken from my stupor by an ominous New York Times headline and not by the steaming, rich, free-trade goodness in my cup. “California Evangelist to Give Inaugural Invocation” remained on my screen even after three, haze-busting blinks.
This is the holiday season, so visions of the Crystal Cathedral began to dance in my head. We all know the President-elect received an enormous mandate for change from the people, but could this be Obama’s televised “hour of power”? No, I must read on…”Obama’s choice of Rick Warren is an olive branch to religious conservatives.” Say it ain’t so, O. Say it ain’t so.
An olive branch? The biblical reference is not lost on me. I remember my Southern Baptist up bringing and the story of the flood, the dove, and Noah…and all those wicked, and now drowned, abominations wiped from the face of the earth by a vengeful and wrathful god. A historical reference used by the late, great evangelist, Jerry Falwell, when he attributed the rising waters of Hurricane Katrina and other disasters to god’s punishment dealt from the tolerance of gays, feminists, and liberals.
Rick Warren, pastor of a mega-church in Orange County, California, has been, and continues to be, a very outspoken opponent of same-sex civil liberties and a woman’s right to privacy, two very firm planks supporting the Democratic platform Obama chose to stand upon. As a lesbian who supported this campaign with money, sweat, and hours, I am having a very difficult time accepting the choice of Rick Warren publically praying to a god who he believes considers me an abomination.
Hold on…my heart is hurt and angry, but my head keeps telling me this is the man you trusted to bring forth a better, kinder nation. I remember when I heard Barack Obama say, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Change requires hope, and I have to realize that offering an ideological adversary an opportunity to be part of this hope, is the courage of a leader our nation has not seen in generations. Change will not come easy nor will it come overnight. Change will not come by preaching to our own progressive pulpit, but by setting an example of reaching out to those of differing views and to those with a potential for open hearts. To Pastor Warren’s credit, he has used his incredible influence to pressure other Christian leaders to focus their ministries on moral issues such as poverty, AIDS, climate change, and genocide.
Civil liberties for all Americans is also a moral issue. By reaching out and putting a face to what most would consider bigotry, we are taking inclusionary steps forward to understanding and acceptance…without which, change will never come. Though it awakens pains deep within me, I understand Rick Warren’s invitation. It is one more hope that Pastor Warren looks out over that crowd of a million plus people standing on the mall of our nation’s capital and begins to realize we are not an abomination. We, sir, are Obama-nation. Welcome to the change.
