Grace to you and peace from our loving God, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

How cool is this? What we have before us this morning from Mark's gospel are the first words he records from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is Jesus' Inaugural Address!

Perhaps the words "Inaugural Address" brings to mind something else that happened this week? Just maybe.

Jesus, of course, is somewhat briefer that was Barack Obama. The sum total of his first message is this: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel." Jesus' inaugural is brief and beautiful. It also contains one of the best summaries of the entire New Testament, not unlike that of the better-known John 3:16.

Mark tells us that this was a sermon. "Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God." I'll bet some of you are thinking, "I wish all sermons were that brief." I hear you, but I must admit that my ability to be pithy falls far short of that of our Lord. So you'll just have to put up with this particular sermon for a bit longer.

What a week this has been. One would almost have thought that this nation and much of the world turned their eyes to the National Mall on Tuesday as if to hear a declaration like that of our Lord again. Such jubilation!

Certainly there is a sense of time being fulfilled. Some no doubt felt that the kingdom of God was more tangibly at hand.

My heart was moved too. How could one not be moved? History converged. The inauguration followed the day we observed the holiday commemorating the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born 80 years ago, on January 15, 1929. We also live these days in recognition that we are very near the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birthday (February 12, 1809).

The poignancy of the day is deepened when we recall that the oath of office for Barack Obama and the speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. shared the venue of the National Mall. On August, 28, 1963, King delivered his speech advocating racial harmony and full civil rights at the Lincoln Memorial (during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom). President Lincoln issued the order completing the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863—100 years before that March on Washington. King's speech from that great President's Memorial was given facing east towards the Capitol Building—the opposite end of the National Mall from the west side of the Capitol Building where Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the 44th President of the United States last Tuesday.

The convergences of history were remarkable indeed, as the dream inspired by our founding documents, proclaimed by Lincoln, promoted by King, and partially realized in Obama stir hope of a visceral kind.

Still, I was most moved by the benediction given at the inauguration by King's co-worker in the civil rights movement, The Rev. Joseph Lowery. In 1957, they co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. When he began his benediction, I immediately recognized Rev. Lowery's opening words as a version of the third stanza of the hymn with which we will close our worship service today—"Lift Every Voice and Sing." Here are the words he spoke:

"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."

That hymn was publicly performed first as a poem as part of a celebration of Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, 1900 by 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School. Its principal, James Weldon Johnson, wrote the words to introduce its honored guest Booker T. Washington.

Now set to music and called the "Black National Anthem," the poem speaks to the historical circumstances, tragic prices paid, and fervent hopes of a people long oppressed and only slowly yielded the blessings of dignity and opportunity that our God and our holy scriptures would consider things both unearned and granted to every human creature of God.

Hearing the full text may help us sing with greater understanding.

Lift every voice and sing,

'Til earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on 'til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chast'ning rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

'Til now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on 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 our God,

True to our native land.

Although inspired by the experience of African Americans, these words use images that echo in the soul of every person in this land. Freedom has come at a cost to us all. The possibility of that peaceful and complete transfer of executive power in these United States derived from long war and has been maintained by suffering and strife originating both within and beyond our borders.

Rev. Lowery struck, I believe, exactly the right note for our nation—placing this inauguration in the context of the struggle and faith that have inspired the audacious hope of generations. The inauguration of Barack Obama, given his ancestry and hue of skin, offers welcome evidence that our spirits are being widened, our hearts opened, and our nation becoming more reflective of an all-embracing gospel.

Our new president sounded another gospel note. He called this nation to return to values-at least some of which are biblical. Here's the reference:

"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

"We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

The bible passage from First Corinthians is well known: "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways." (13:11)

I concur with Obama's assessment. The polarizing rhetoric that we continue to hear from podiums as well as pulpits serves no constructive or mature purpose. We need to share our bits of truth, our insights, and our expertise rather than using them as blinders, failing to expand our vision with what others might contribute for the sake of the common good. We need to recognize that the call from our Lord in the opening words of Mark's gospel is a compelling word, exhorting us to acknowledge a gift that comes from outside ourselves and that is comes equally to all. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe. And share.

When we give in to the rhetoric—political or pastoral—of division, of exceptionalism, of prerogative, or of enmity, we give in to a spirit of immaturity that only desires to affirm ones own point of view. Children argue for the sake of arguing. Adults discuss and contend with open ears, hearts, and spirits—seeking the greater truth that always arises from sharing and understanding.

I rejoice that many of the denominations of Christianity continue the work of ecumenism begun in earnest in the last century. In recent years, the spirit of unity has come to be expressed not in mergers as much as mutual recognition. We now stand in full communion (the phrasing we use for full mutual recognition of valid theology and ministry as well as commitment to coordinate mission efforts)—we now stand in full communion, as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with five other denominations that once divided us and caused dissension: the Episcopal Church, the Reformed Church, the United Church of Christ, the Moravian Church, and the Presbyterian Church. We are engaged in discussions with others—at least the Methodists and the Disciples of Christ.

One hopes that we are beginning to get it. We are starting, perhaps, to put away childish things in our conduct of the mission of the one God who is Lord and Divine Parent of us all.

We may indeed hope that this spirit of maturity transforms also our national and international discourse. We may indeed hope that this maturity will help us to steer the ship of State away from the reefs of receding moral standing and softening ethical clarity—away from a rationalized acceptance of torture and invasion into what is properly private and towards greater equity and dignity.

Our hope and our motivation as Christians, of course, is not Barack Obama or any earthly leader or any worldly kingdom. We are moved to works of love and peace—to reach out to others in love and call—alone by the God who loves us, brings us peace, and calls us to service.

May the inaugurations of this week root us more firmly in the gospel of grace and rouse to work more faithfully for the kingdom of God. Amen.

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord unto eternal life. Amen.