A new dawn

[Sunrise in Ardross- my sister's garden]

Along with millions of other people in Washington and around the globe, I found the Inauguration of President Obama very moving. I even allowed myself the audacity to hope that things could definitely change for the better.
Could they get much worse than under the last presidency?
(By the way, do you think President Bush completely lacks self-awareness or is simply very good at hiding his embarrassment? Obama did not "miss him and hit the wall.")

As I said in a sermon a few days after the US election, once of the reasons that Obama won is that somehow he managed to convince a lot of people in America that he was less interested in the hope of power than he was in the power of hope.
To quote a little bit from that sermon, speaking of the story of Jesus:
"Someone who was totally innocent, and who preached only love, was made to suffer unspeakable torture, and his life was snatched from him in the cruellest of ways. At the time, it must have seemed to the followers of Jesus that all the dark forces of evil and injustice had won the day. They'd come out on top.
Might is right. Power prevails. Evil wins.
Darkness has swallowed up the light.
Or so it must have seemed at the time.
Until the resurrection of Jesus turned that assessment on its head and gave to the first Christians an unquenchable hope, a hope that nothing, not even death itself, could ultimately defeat the purposes of God. A hope, a confidence, that eventually the way of love, not the way of power, would win the day.
The light had overcome the darkness... and always would in the end.
As the title of one book puts it: "And the Lamb wins!" *
That HOPE, which the first followers of Jesus had, a hope solidly based on the resurrection of Jesus, turned out to be an unstoppable force. Not even the might of the Roman Empire could hold it back- no matter how many Christians were put to the sword. Because the power of hope is ultimately stronger than the hope of power."
No one should ever underestimate the power of hope.

On a more mundane level, I was amused, and vaguely reassured, when the new President seemed to fluff his lines on taking the oath of office. [It turns out that the original mistake was by the Judge administering the oath, Chief Justice Roberts, and just to be sure they did the whole thing again afterwards. ]
But, whoever was to blame, it showed that the people participating were only human after all and the occasion had got to them.
It happens sometimes in wedding ceremonies too. I've had brides (and bridegrooms) bursting into tears (disturbing) or into a fit of giggles (even more disturbing) and, on more than one occasion, had a bridegroom promising to be "beautiful" rather than "dutiful" (which sometimes I reckoned would have been an impossible vow to keep.)
Returning to the Presidential Inauguration, however, I allowed myself (naughtily) a wry smile and chuckle at the sight of Dick Cheney in a wheelchair. Apparently he had hurt his back moving books out of his White House Office. As someone who occasionally has back problems himself, I sympathise with him and have no wish to see him, or anyone else, in pain.
But all the same... how are the mighty fallen!!

* I haven't read the book, so I'm not recommending it or otherwise - I just liked the title.