WASHINGTON, D.C. – The new Obama administration represents a new birth of intellectual pursuit, family values and spirituality among African Americans, said the Rev. Joseph Lowery.
Lowery, a civil rights stalwart who helped establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., preached Easter Sunday at Howard University. During the school year, guest ministers preach at Cramton Auditorium on campus. Lowery, chairman emeritus of the Black Leadership Forum, Inc., offered the closing prayer at President Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony in January.
Since Obama’s election in November, Lowery said pundits and reporters frequently ask him about the significance of the nation electing the first African-American president.
“I don’t know. Got to wait and see,” he said with a chuckle. The campaign and election “helped me to see a ‘new heaven, a new earth,’” drawing from Revelation 21:1-2.
Easter represents rebirth, a reawakening, Lowery said. The election represented an Easter for African Americans, an occasion to renew commitments to intellectualism, to families and spiritual foundation.
“I am concerned that we as a people have not taken seriously enough the pursuit of intellectual excellence,” Lowery said before a packed auditorium.
“We need to wrestle with that proposition. Too long have we let athletics supersede academics,” he said, adding that he enjoyed sports but “somehow we need a better balance.”
He shared how entertainer Beyonce’ said every time she sees Obama, she wants to become smarter, more involved.
“Every black person who looks at Barack Obama or listens to Barack Obama ought to want to be smarter, intellectually stronger,” he said.
Lowery said the election results didn’t sink in on Nov. 4 until he saw the Obamas greet supporters in Chicago. He said when he saw the president-elect, his wife and their daughters “it struck me that this is an Easter experience for black folks” because of the image of an intact family.
Dismayed by a young unwed guest on “The Tyra Banks Show” bragging that she didn’t need a man,” Lowery said, “She might not, but her children do.”
Applause erupted throughout the room.
More than 70 percent of children born to black women in 2008 were born out of wedlock, Lowery said.
“The election of Barack Obama and his model family, Lord, what a sight,” Lowery said.
“We’ve also got to get more spiritual,” Lowery said, clarifying that he didn’t mean more religiosity.
Lowery referred to Post writer E.J. Dionne’s column, ”A Resilient Christianity” published Sunday morning. Dionne described changes within Christendom such as decline in the numbers of Americans who identify themselves as Christian. Dionne cited theologian H. Richard Niebuhr who criticized a type pf feel-good brand of Christianity that promoted an idea that “a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”
“Religion will not suffer statistically that speaks to the choices people have to make every day,” Lowery said.
A “new heaven” doesn’t just mean the hereafter, he said. When counseling and working with families he’s concerned that they’re not only focused on “making heaven their home, but making their homes heavenly.”
He said strong communities contain residents who are concerned about their neighbors. He said
strong individuals are committed to doing the right thing (eschew hatred, discrimination, inequities) even if those acts fail to generate attention or accolades.
“Hate put the stone in place. Love rolled it away,” Lowery said about the rock that blocked the tomb where Jesus was buried before the Resurrection. “Love is more powerful than hate, than charity, which tends to be seasonal.”
Lowery closed witha reference to the 1977 movie “Oh, God!” starring George Burns in the title role. The Almighty, who appeared to store manager, charged the employee with sharing two basic messages that Lowery said have persisted for millennia.
“‘I am. I care,’” Lowery said. “Disappointments, grief and pain – he is and he cares. Talents buried and it appears that they’re dead and buried, think on the third day, the stone rolled away – he is and he cares. After awhile he’ll roll the stone away.”
“He is and he cares. I saw a new heaven,” Lowery said as he stepped away from the pulpit amidst a standing ovation.
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Lowery’s visit occurred on the 70th anniversary of contralto Marian Anderson’s landmark concert at the Lincoln Memorial, which drew 75,000 people. The Daughters of the American Revolution barred her from singing at Constitution Hall near the White House because she was black. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was among the individuals who helped arrange for Anderson to perform on the steps of the national monument.
Mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves performed at a concert Sunday designed to recreate Anderson’s historic concert.
“It is the honor of my life and my career to be celebrating this day of freedom with you,” Graves told the audience.
General Colin Powell read portions of President Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address. More than 2,000 people attended the event. Sweet Honey in the Rock, the Chicago Children’s Choir and the U.S. Marine Band also performed.
