Barack Obama’s victory was received here in Kenya with both jubilation and great shock. It was like when the foundation of the temple was completed: “The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud commotion that could be heard far in the distance” (Ezra 3: 13, NLT) Why would this be so? I think at the bottom of this is the issue of identity. Kenyans and Africans in general are happy that their own is becoming president in the most powerful country in the world today. However, they also recognize that he is an American. We feel a sense of pride and importance as a result.

My sisters and brothers in the Lord, this leads me to explore with you Joel 2:28-29. I personally believe that God is at work in history and that the Spirit of God is unbounded. Among the things the Spirit has come to do is to help us cross the dividing walls that separate us in order to make us one. The four major walls include nation (all people/ all flesh), gender (sons and daughters), generation (old men and young men), and class (male and female slaves). You will agree with me that the struggles in the world today revolve around these things. It is all a question of power between men and women, the rich and the poor, the blacks and the whites, natives and foreigners, this tribe and that tribe. Who wants to give away power?

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“In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
John 1:1&14

The early Church discovered that when they wanted to see Jesus in all his deified bigness they had to accept him first in all of his human smallness. This is the mystery of the Incarnation. Apparently “less is more” when it comes to God.

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Each Sunday for the last year or so I have been attending a breakfast for low income and homeless residents of Tacoma at our church, Urban Grace where I serve as a parish associate. One of the great saints of Tacoma and a member of our congregation, Willie Stewart, has coordinated this breakfast now for more than five years. Anywhere from 150 to 300 people attend the breakfast. The tables are clean, the place is safe and warm, the volunteers are great and the food ain’t bad either.

Recently a few of us started a conversation called “Word On The Street” (after a great book with the same title) for those who attend the breakfast. Our conversation is not a “best practice” by any means. In fact, sometimes it’s more like a bad skit than a real conversation. Two weeks ago a guy wandered into the middle of the circle wearing a fake leopard skin coat announcing all of his addictions to the group. We were grateful that that’s all he announced. That same week a lady abruptly left the circle in a huff, clearly preoccupied with another conversation happening somewhere in her head. With a few of these colorful exceptions noted, most participants come to the conversation remarkably engaged and respectful of each other. It is really quite amazing.

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I’m reading a disturbing book called “Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money.” It’s by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith, co-authors of “Divided by Faith” – one of the most thoughtful and provocative books I have read on the subject of race and religion. These two scholars (and brothers in Christ) have a knack for getting us to honestly face uncomfortable truths about the church.

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I recently read Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope. If he is half as good a president as he is a writer then we are in good hands. I was intrigued by his use of metaphors as he described the Constitution of the United States. He offered two ways of seeing the Constitution. One way to see the Constitution is to see it as a blueprint. The blueprint metaphor suggests that the Constitution sets forth clear instructions on how to build a democracy and if we simply follow the plan we will succeed. Another way to see the Constitution is to see it as a conversation. This metaphor is an invitation to dialogue about how to promote, protect, and insure our most cherished rights and values.

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Though I hardly grew up rich, my own story involves moving from the world of the nonpoor to the poor—a movement that continues to shape me deeply. So deeply, the shaping could be called a conversion, or a process of conversions. I know I’m not alone; this movement is an invitation Jesus extends to all who would “go through the eye of a needle.”

Theodore Wiesner identifies three conversions for a follower of Christ among the poor:

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“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

After Jesus is raised from the watery grave of his baptism, the heavens are opened and the Spirit descends with the blessing of the Father. I am struck by three things in this scene.

First, Mark begins his version of the Gospel with Jesus submitting to death. Whatever else baptism is, it is a call to die. Baptism is the watery grave where we die to self (the false-self) and become alive to all that is real (the true-self). Perhaps Mark is suggesting that the Gospel journey is always a baptismal journey – “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life…will save it. (Mark 8:35) The baptism of Jesus is the cross before the Cross.

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