I turned on the TV at just the right time yesterday evening. I had expected to watch the evening news, not to witness an historic moment. But that's exactly what happened as I watched the last 20 minutes or so of the roll call at the Democratic National Convention. In an ironic twist, Hillary Rodham Clinton moved that the convention elect Barack Obama by acclimation to be its nominee for President of the United States. And with an explosion of cheers and a great many tears, Obama became the first African-American to be officially nominated by a major political party for President.
Whatever one's political persuasion or party, it was a moment to celebrate.
As I watched I found myself close to tears. I wondered why. I am a 45 year old white, heterosexual man who grew up in an upper middle class family in Virginia. I have not experienced the "walls" and "ceilings" that have been barriers to minorities and people on the margins for so long. I have not experienced discrimination and I have not been the subject of prejudice. I've not lost opportunities because of the color or my skin or my sexual orientation or my gender. Society's doors have been opened for me throughout my life.
Perhaps my tears had something to do with my daughter's reaction. Her attitude was "What's the big deal?" This had nothing to do with the fact that she's too young to vote or doesn't care. She reacted this way because she is growing up in a generation that believes anyone can achieve anything. For her, an African-American man or a white woman being nominated to be President (or being elected President) feels absolutely normal. That's a change to celebrate! Alleluia!!
So, what does any of this have to do with living faithfully in the 21st century village? Well, I'm struck by what I'll call the "prophetic timing" of Obama's nomination. Nominated yesterday, he will make his acceptance speech on the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington in 1963 when Martin Luther King gave his famous, "I Have a Dream" speech.
I took some time today to listen to and re-read the speech (see the link below, if you'd like to do the same). The speech is not overtly religious. He sprinkles in a couple of biblical verses, but it is definitely a speech for a civic event, not a sermon for a religious gathering.
What makes the speech religious (or spiritual, if you prefer) is the faith that is at its heart. King's passion and determination are driven and supported by his faith. He trusts and believes that someday, somehow, this dream will be fulfilled. He stated this most clearly when he said:
"This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
We need faith. We cannot live without it. Faith allows us to dream, to break down barriers, to walk forward when we want to retreat. Faith allows us to see not only the world as it is but also the world as it should and can be. Faith empowers us and sustains us.
We need spiritual communities, formal gatherings of people who seek God. We need this not to ensure that we go to heaven, but to empower us to live passionately and faithfully in the world. We need communities that are not consumed with institutional preservation but are willing to, as a parishioner of mine just wrote to me, "be creative and break some molds." And we must break these molds soon before we lose a generation of young people who want to be spiritually alive but not institutionally bound.
I have much more to say about that, but I'll save that for another entry. If you want to read and listen to Martin Luther King's speech, you will find it at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm.
I invite your comments and thoughts. Please join the conversation. Thanks!
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