It is now 11:45 p.m. on Tuesday November 4, 2008 and Barack Obama has officially been declared the president of the United States of America! He has made history in so many ways including running an extraordinary and masterfully engineered campaign, and defying all odds to become the first Black president of these United States. What a mighty God we serve! As Michelle Obama and even Barack have stated or alluded to on several occasions, there was a greater force working behind the scenes; Obama was simply an instrument in the hands of an omnipotent God who is indeed able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can think or hope for.
Be not deceived, it is God Almighty who has spoken. He has shown the world that truth crushed down to the earth will rise again; that evil will never triumph over good; and that the sufferings of His creation and the oppression of His people tug at the heart of God and force His hand to move in a mighty way. Empires that are not built on the principles that God challenges us in Micah to live by: to love mercy, to do justice and to walk HUMBLY with our God, will ultimately crumble. "Except the Lord builds the house then the laborer labors in vain." This includes the world house, the White house, and the state house as well as our own personal houses e.g. families, communities, neighborhoods, faith institutions and the like.
This event has reordered things and presents us with a challenge to rise to the occasion accordingly. Barack can't change things alone; we all have a responsibility to refocus our works and efforts to operate on a higher level and to renew our commitment to work for a greater and more noble good in this world where the sufferings of the poor, marginalized, stigmatized and oppressed are alleviated if not eradicated.
While the Republicans made fun of the notion of "redistributing the wealth" the truth of the matter is there is enough wealth to go around where every family and especially our children can have a decent place to live, three meals a day, a high quality education, health care and access to extracurricular activities and working parents who are making a livable wage and not just the minimum.
If Barack is to succeed we must help him and this must become our sole mission--a shift from self service to servitude. As President John F. Kennedy challenged us in 1963, we must now indeed ask "what can I do for my country" and as Rev. Jeremiah Wright challenged, no longer should we say God bless America, but now is the time for Americans to bless God.
Based on what we have just witnessed, we can do it; YES WE CAN!
What makes this night even more monumental is the fact that 40 years ago Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the age of 40 after delivering one of his most soul-stirring and prophetic speeches,"I Have Been to The Mountain Top" speech, delivered on April 3, 1968 in Memphis Tennessee. In this speech, Dr. King eloquently, prophetically and powerfully said these words:
"Well,I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days a head. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop.And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything.I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
Well tonight, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. can rest in peace because his prophecy has come to past: we as a people have seen God's glory and together, whites, Blacks, Asian, Hispanic, Native Americans, and mixed races, young, old, rich, poor and in between, have walked hand in hand, worked shoulder to shoulder and marched together as a people to a place we hope is at least a part of the territory of the prophetic "promised land" that Dr. King presaged.
