Historic Day - Washington and Oxford

Today Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated as 44th President of the United States. His father's village in Kenya went wild.  

I found his speach  moving and rooted in reality. At last an intelligent President!  No more Bushisms!   

The full text of Obama's speach is available on the BBC website)  He talked about the USA taking responsibility and held out an open hand to the Muslim world.  It's what people will call an historic day. The picture Barack Obama-Martin Luther King by BenHeine  just shows the significance with which the event is viewed by the civil rights movement. The first African American president. He will become, already is an Icon. 

The final prayer mentioned by Rev Joseph Lowery (something like) - Blacks not turning back, Browns 'turning around', Yellows being 'mellow' and Whites doing what's 'right'. (I'll correct this when I find the original and post a link). 

Maybe the US of A will now be able to embody this level of integration and social inclusion.  

We had our own Historic Day in CMS when members voted for the merger between CMS and SAMS.  The legacy of Allen Gardiner was remembered when he came to CMS in 1844 with the vision to reach the Pataognian Indians, but then there were not the financial resources to expand into South America. So a separate agancy was fomed.   Now 165 years later ..... 

These events may not have had quite the same level of interest. But 108 CMS members voted -only one against -  almost 100% in favour.  The significance is the shift in power from the global North to the global South that this represents. As Africans,  Asians and Latin Americans take their righful place in God's mission. It is about reponding to what God is already doing. Mission is no longer White. (not that it ever really has been). It is multicoloured. 

Maybe the two events are connected  after all