Bishop Palmer Preaches about Obama’s Inauguration

Preaching for Foundry United Methodist’s Sunday morning services in Washington, DC, on January 18, Council of Bishops President Gregory Palmer of Springfield, Illinois heralded the significance of Barack Obama’s inauguration as president. Foundry Church became famous during the 1990’s as the regular place of worship for Bill and Hillary Clinton.

“The inauguration of the new President of the United States, which in and of itself would be an extraordinary thing, has a special, loaded, added meaning for this inauguration because of who the President will be at noon on Tuesday,” Bishop Palmer said.  He also celebrated that Obama’s election “represents the falling down of [racial] barriers.”

Palmer said that Obama’s election had invited the nation to “come out of our particularity of race and class and culture” and to realize “all that can be if we give ourselves not only to this moment,” but to the challenges of the coming years. Just as the Old Testament prophet Samuel was called by God in Israel, the bishop said his listeners in the congregation should feel similarly called to work for a better country.

The story of Samuel’s call, observed Palmer, occurred “against the backdrop of some very discouraging times among the people of ancient Israel,” when “visions were not widespread.”  The bishop suggested a potential parallel with Foundry Church’s current situation: “Have there not been times in your life personally, in your nation, where you could say, ‘The word of the Lord was rare in those days, and visions were not widespread?’” Extending the significance of this call, Palmer remarked, “This is not just about America, but this is about the nations of the world.”

But Palmer said that this time of scarcity of vision was coming to a close. Borrowing Quincy Jones’ words to Oprah Winfrey, the Bishop explained, “That’s what our tears were for on 4 November, and that’s what our tears will be for on 20 January: our ‘future is so bright it makes our eyes burn.’”

The bishop strove to drive home a message of his listeners’ responsibility for bringing change, rather than merely depending on leaders. He charged, “Stop dragging yourself around and join those who have made themselves available to say that we will usher in a new era of hope [and] abundance.”

Warned Palmer, “We disparage none of this enormous hope, [and] possibility [brought by the Obama inauguration], but we have this problem as human beings: we like our heroes and sheroes… Don’t let January 20 be about that.” In contrast, said Bishop Palmer, “God intends to co-opt, to invite, to call, to engage, some of God’s people into doing God’s work.” He queried his audience, “So what you gonna do?”

Social justice workshops on Sunday afternoon and community service work on Monday reinforced Palmer’s message of working towards a better world. “Injustice is a theological problem” first, he noted. The controversial an openly homosexual Mark Miller led morning worship with the help of his “Young Person’s Justice Chorale,” which gave a concert on Sunday evening to benefit the United Methodist Church’s work with the Nothing but Nets Campaign to resist malaria in Africa. The church also planned to open its doors on Tuesday morning so that congregants could watch the inauguration together on a projection screen.

Foundry hosted approximately 90 people over the weekend who had come into the city for the inauguration. Most of these were young people; youth groups came from states like Ohio and North Carolina to attend the week’s festivities. It was only one of several United Methodist Churches in the Baltimore-Washington Area that lent the floors of their fellowship halls to weary travelers. Bishop John Schol of the Baltimore-Washington Area attended the Foundry services to introduce Bishop Palmer and welcome the sojourners.