Across the pond

God spoke in two different voices today to nearly two million Americans crowded together in Washington and millions – maybe billions – of people watching on television from all sides of the globe, which God’s first western followers thought was as flat as a saucer.

The first voice was that of a conservative evangelical member of the new American right which has ensured that George W Bush has remained in power for the last eight years, who better remain nameless.

He quieted the crowd with a thunderous

‘Let us pray’

and in his first few sentences left us in no doubt where he stood.

He shouted up to God from Capitol Hill and told him:

‘Everything exists though you……..History is YOUR story…………’

Although he is opposed to gay marriage and abortion he assured us he was an admirer of Martin Luther King, that other pastor, who inspired the blacks and all other minorities in America, to stand up and demand change.

And then he told us with not a hint of irony that

‘we KNOW’ 

that King is shouting down to us today from his new home in heaven.

He concluded with the Lord’s Prayer, saying the words pompously and ponderously and real slow, just in case any of his audience had forgotten any of the words.

The contrast was striking when the new President followed him to the stand:

‘My fellow citizens……humbled by the task before me’

Though he is known to be a devout Christian, and he did acknowledge God two or three times in his speech, he put his faith in the determination of the American people to take responsibility for their own destiny. And extended his hand in friendship to human beings of every race and faith.

More about this in a later blog.

The second pastor seemed a frail old man as he rose to give the benediction. The Rev Joseph Lowery, looked nervous but the first words I managed to catch were

‘deliver us from the exploitation of the poor’

(He was a supporter of Luther King in spirit, word and deed).

As he went on, and not for very long, his confidence grew, and he gave us a few sound bites:

‘turn tanks into tractors, brown not down, yellow be mellow, white must embrace right.’

He ended with a ringing cry.

‘Say Amen’

The crowd erupted, as well they might. The voice came from his heart and was spoken to our hearts. And all America’s Presidents, lifted their bowed heads and smiled.

Obama was damanged early in the election campaign by his own long-standing pastor, who told the media and the world about his own, often extreme views. Obama, then, distanced himself from the views, but refused to repudiate the man, who he told the world had many good points.

Today he most definitely got his pastors sorted out in the right order.

He demonstrated that he is committed to unity. But he left no-one in doubt that he is seeking to ‘remake America’, learning from past presidents, learning from his pastors, but not taking their words as those of God.