Say amen somebody!*

Spiritual resource to share: one another's blessings

Staging at the Obama Inauguration 1.20.09

What can I say after a day packed with inspiration? Only to repeat what has already been shared.

Here is an excerpt from Reverend Lowery's benediction blessing at the Inauguration yesterday: (Thanks Maggie for posting this on facebook.)

The Rev. Joseph Lowery's Benediction:

"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, O God, and true to our native land.

[...]

Help us then, now, Lord,
to work for that day when nation 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 back,
when brown can stick around -- (laughter) --
when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) --
when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) --
and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen --

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

(Cheers, applause.)

See the whole benediction here:



*Say Amen Somebody is a little known documentary about the history of the American Gospel movement. A long time favorite of Rick's and mine.

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

Possibility and Responsibility

Spiritual resource to share: readiness to work

It's been the start of an incredibly upbeat week here in the US as we welcome in our 44th President. Pre-inaugural speeches have played up on the theme of everything is possible. Tomorrow's inauguration of our new president has the theme: ‘A New Birth of Freedom’ commemorating the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth and our founding fathers' ideal of equality and freedom for all. Tempered into those talks is the theme of possibility but also responsibility.

I certainly feel the joy of discovering new possibilities and expansive ways of thinking and solving problems. But there is another kind of joy that welcomes our increased responsibility to one another and to ourselves. This is the kind of joy that deepens character and grows confidence.

Taking responsibility for ourselves is how we love ourselves and forms the basis of how we love others. Taking responsibility for one another gives us a place to belong and shows how much we are needed.

Looking ahead of this celebratory week, the challenges we have today will still be there. But collectively we have a new resolve. The Christian Science Monitor's opinion column reports a resolve that goes as deep as spiritual transformation worldwide. "There is a growing confidence that universal peace and well-being are, against all odds, actually achievable on planet Earth.”

Heady stuff.

What I love about Christian Science is that it shows how these ideals can be made practical. How? The founder and discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, has some salient points:

• By understanding that God’s work is already done and is good: "Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good, and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already done."


• And that we have the resources to reveal this good through God: "Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul."


• And that we have a perfect example in Christ Jesus’ work as to how this can be done: "His (Christ Jesus’) mission was both individual and collective. He did life's work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals, — to show them how to do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility."

Responsibility, practicality, community, possibility and the joy to do the work will probably be recurring themes throughout the year. And we are ready!

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.