This month marks the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. I have had the great pleasure to be born in one state and live in another where Lincoln has ties--Illinois and Kentucky. The more I know about Lincoln, the more I admire his leadership skills, especially his ability to be a "nonanxious presence" in the midst of great upheaval in our country.
While Lincoln was not great church-goer, he, as many in his generation did, learned to read using the Bible as his textbook, and nearly all of his major speeches reference God's guiding hand in human affairs. His act of manumission of slaves in January, 1863 was not entirely popular, even in some northern states, but he stood behind his decision, not wavering in the face of much negative feedback.
The juxtaposition in 2009 of Dr. Martin Luther King's 80th birthday, the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth and the inauguration of our first black president cannot go unnoticed for the convergence of the forward movement of our country toward justice and peace for all people. What Lincoln started, King gave his life for, and Obama has continued, shows God's hand in giving us leaders who are not afraid to do the right thing, even when their very existence is at risk.
May God continue to give us leaders who are rooted in the waters of justice that wash over us, to bring to reality the dignity of every human being.
God's peace,
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