AT INAUGURATION, GOD IN ALL THE DETAILS

The Boston Globe

Beverly Beckham

There is not a single photograph, not a frame of film, not even an artist's rendering, of the biggest presence at last Tuesday's historic inauguration.

No mention in the daily papers the next day. No quips. No cartoons. No newscasters' analytic buzz.

The world watched, the world saw. And yet no one said.

On the dais between Chief Justice John Roberts and President Barack Obama, then beside the Rev. Rick Warren, and poet Elizabeth Alexander, and Aretha Franklin, and the Rev. Joseph Lowery; not at the back of the bus, but up front, all day, was God. God beside me. God before me. God behind me. God within me, to paraphrase St. Patrick.

On Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington D.C., God - Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, the Divine Mind, the Great Spirit, Light, Truth, Love - was everywhere.

God was in the oath of office that John Roberts said and our new president repeated: "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president of the United States faithfully, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God."

God was in the invocation "Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans."

God was in the quiet words of the poet's "Praise Song for the Day" - "What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national."

God was in the familiar words of the hymn "My Country 'Tis of Thee," which means my country, it is of God. And God was in the benediction, too. "God of our weary years, God of our silent tears."

God opened the ceremony and God closed it. And people all around the world wept and clapped and hugged and cheered. And not a word was said about inappropriateness or the separation of church and state.

In his inaugural address, Obama quoted the Bible. "We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. He talked of "the God-given promise that all are equal."

He said, "This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny." And he ended his speech with three mentions of God: "Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations. ... God bless you and God bless the United States of America."

A year ago, Obama spoke at a Martin Luther King Jr. event in Columbia, S.C. He opened his remarks with these words: "Giving all praise and honor to God for making this beautiful, if a little chilly, day."

The leopard doesn't change its spots. Obama is a man whose faith is a part of him. This is inspirational.

I had a friend, a good man, a Catholic priest, who was like this, who talked about God as if they were golfing buddies, who said over and over, not mystically, but as a matter of fact: "God loves us all." Once he came across a big, broken statue of Christ without arms and instead of walking away from it, he lugged it to his car, brought it back to his church and set it in the church parking lot, explaining to the congregation that we were God's arms. He used to end every Mass not with the traditional "Go and serve the Lord" but "Go and serve the Lord and one another."

This is our mission, to serve one another. This is what Obama appears to see.

"As we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family," the Rev. Lowery prayed. "Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will."

The power of prayer and faith and hope. And God's love. This is what our new president has brought to the White House.