奧巴馬總統訪問佛蒙特大道浸禮教會，一個馬丁路德金曾拜訪過的具有歷史意義的聖會。
Adelle M. Banks, 宗教新聞服務
奧巴馬總統周日在華盛頓教堂發表演說，信仰如何引導他和努力工作的重要性以作為對已故牧師馬丁路德金誕辰的紀念。
“有時候人們問我為什麼看起來這麼平靜，”奧巴馬在佛蒙特大道浸禮教會，一個馬丁路德金曾拜訪過的具有歷史意義的聖會上說道，“在這裡我要認罪……有時一切的努力都似乎是徒勞，變革來的那麼痛苦而又遲緩，我不得不面對自己的懷疑。但是讓我來告訴你，在這樣的時候，是信仰使我平靜，是信仰使我平安。”
總統在按教會程序通常布道的地方演講近半個小時，在大約500人聚集的聖會家庭生活中心發表演說，那是由1866年獲得自由的奴隸建立的。有時他說話像個牧師，他以“早上好，感謝上帝”開始了演講；以“靠神凡事都能”作結語。
他談到要把持一種“用禱告的聲音和海地社會讚美的歌聲打破地震後沉寂的信仰”時，會眾鼓掌表示贊同。
馬丁路德金在1956年拜訪了該教堂，奧巴馬指出：“一個27歲的牧師，就講到了所謂的新時代的挑戰。”
在馬丁路德金訪問的時候，最高法院就已經裁定了阿拉巴馬州蒙哥馬利市有種族隔離的公交系統，他的反對是違憲的。高級法院還裁定了布朗訴教育委員會反抗學校的種族隔離，但學校和各州都“置之不理且不受責罰，”奧巴馬這樣回憶道。
“現在已經過去半個多世紀了，再一次面對新時代的挑戰，”他說，儘管“時斷時續”，但進步已經超越了偏執和偏見。
“就是那進步使我今天站在這裡成為可能，因為這個國家裡的優秀公民們選舉了一位非裔作為美國第四十四任總統。”
他說當美國人民負責任，努力工作時，民權運動以至於整個國家就都已經勝利了。
“在這個國家，沒有什麼能代替努力工作，”奧巴馬說。“沒有什麼能代替一份干的漂亮的工作，沒有什麼能代替上帝祝福的恪盡職守的管家。”
奧巴馬與第一夫人米歇爾•奧巴馬和他的女兒馬利亞，薩沙同牧師坐在前面，與會眾同聲高唱《我們一定會勝利》。他還和牧師開玩笑說三十年後可能會允許他的外甥同牧師的孫女見面。
顯然這不是在佛蒙特大道的象徵性的服侍，開始前他同牧師Cornelius Wheeler一起提議信徒先不要離席一道獻上豐盛的敬拜並照相。
去年，奧巴馬拜訪了華盛頓的三座教堂：為了他的就職祈禱拜訪了華盛頓國家大教堂，在他就職和復活節的時候拜訪白宮對面拉斐特廣場上的聖約翰聖工教堂，還有就職前拜訪了十九街浸禮教堂。去年七月他說會參加“一些不同的教堂”，欣賞帶領總統度假地戴維營禮拜的牧師做的“大有能力”的布道。
介紹奧巴馬時，Wheeler說他是“驕傲的孔雀且樂不可支”的展示自己，保證現在他的會眾為他的就職而驕傲並且支持他。
承認這點也許在政治角度上這麼說並非正確，Wheeler補充道：“我不知道為什麼他們用了八年的時間把一切搞的一團混亂，你去收拾的時候他們卻沒有一點點耐心。”
最近已退休的接待員約翰•哈里森說87歲時，他在那付出過特別的努力。
馬丁路德金在此發表講話後哈里森就成為了教會的一員，他說：“我起床來到這，觀看這一切是因為這是歷史”。
January 18, 2010 9:36AM
Obama Tells Church Faith `Keeps Me Calm'
President Obama visited Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, a historic congregation that was visited by Martin Luther King Jr.
Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service
President Obama addressed how his faith guides him and the importance of hard work as he marked the birthday of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at a Washington church on Sunday.
"Folks ask me sometimes why I look so calm," he said at Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, a historic congregation that was visited by King. "I have a confession to make here. ... There are times when it feels like all these efforts are for naught, and change is so painfully slow in coming, and I have to confront my own doubts. But let me tell you during those times, it's faith that keeps me calm. It's faith that gives me peace."
The president spoke for almost half an hour in the usual spot for the sermon on the church's program, addressing about 500 people gathered in the Family Life Center of the congregation founded by freed slaves in 1866. At times he spoke like a preacher, opening his speech with "Good morning. Praise be to God," and concluding with "through God all things are possible."
He spoke of holding the kind of "faith that breaks the silence of an earthquake's wake with the sound of prayer and hymns sung by the Haitian community," as the congregation applauded in agreement.
King visited the church in 1956, Obama noted, "as a 27-year-old preacher to speak on what he called the challenge of a new age."
At the time of King's visit the Supreme Court had ruled that the desegregated bus system in Montgomery, Ala., he opposed was unconstitutional. The high court had also ruled in Brown v. Board of Education against school segregation but schools and states had "ignored it with impunity," Obama recalled.
"Here we are more than half a century later, once again facing the challenges of a new age," he said. Even with "fits and starts," he said there has been progress over bigotry and prejudice.
"It's that progress that made it possible for me to be here today, for the good people of this country to elect an African-American the 44th president of the United States of America."
He said the civil rights movement in particular and the country in general have been successful when all Americans are responsible and work hard.
"In this country, there's no substitute for hard work," Obama said. "No substitute for a job well done, no substitute for being responsible stewards of God's blessings."
Obama, who attended with first lady Michelle Obama and his daughters Malia and Sasha, sat up front with the pastor, singing along when the congregation broke out in "We Shall Overcome" and joking with the pastor about how he might permit his new nephew to meet the pastor's new granddaughter in about 30 years.
It was obvious that this was not a typical service at Vermont Avenue, with the pastor, Rev. Cornelius Wheeler, offering warnings to worshippers before it began about not leaving the area of their seats for exuberant worship or photos.
In the last year, Obama has visited three other Washington churches: the Washington National Cathedral for his inaugural prayer service; St. John's Episcopal Church across Lafayette Square from the White House on the day of his inauguration and on Easter; and Nineteenth Street Baptist
Church the Sunday before his inauguration. Last July he said he may attend "a number of different churches" and enjoys "powerful" sermons from the chaplain who leads services at the chapel at Camp David, the presidential retreat.
As he introduced Obama, Wheeler said he was "peacock-proud and tickled pink" to present him and assured the president his congregation was proud of his inauguration and "got your back."
Acknowledging it might not be politically correct to say so, Wheeler added: "It took them eight years to mess it all up. I can't see why they don't have a little bit of patience while you're fixing it."
Recently retired usher John S. Harrison said at age 87 he made a special effort to be there.
"I got out of my bed to come down here and see this because this is history," said Harrison, who was part of the church when King spoke there.
Christianity Today
