United in prayers

Inauguration messages transcend faiths

Bilal Kaleem spoke of inspiration at the new Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury. (Globe Staff Photo / Bill Greene)

A steady snow was falling over a quiet Sunday morning and the roads were still only semi-plowed, but when the Rev. Jeffrey L. Brown looked out across the wooden pews yesterday morning, he saw faces he hadn't seen in weeks.

"This is the Sunday before the Tuesday," he said, the significance of the days needing no explanation.

As he stood at the pulpit of a church built in Cambridge 130 years ago by freed slaves, Brown slowly recalled the long journey of slave ships from Africa, the indignities of servitude on plantations, the lynchings, the segregation and the long struggle for civil rights. He told the Union Baptist congregation that just last week, for the first time since he was a boy, he visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, wanting for a minute to bask in the aura of the president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, to recall the stirring oratory of the preacher who had a dream, and to anticipate the inauguration of the first African-American as president.

"Our forebears suffered and died for this moment," said Brown, 47, whose own great-great-grandfather emerged from slavery to become a sharecropper in North Carolina.

Out of the congregation came the cry, "Amen!"

All across the region, ministers and priests, rab bis and imams are looking toward tomorrow's inauguration with a sense that they are about to witness history, an improbable moment in the American story that requires examination, reflection, and prayer.

Some preachers spoke of their own family's struggles, or their own histories pushing for civil rights. Many read from the sermons of Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday the nation celebrates today. The enthusiasm was so high that more than one felt compelled to remind their congregations that Barack Obama is not the messiah.

"Your candidacy has engendered a whole lot of hope in a whole lot of people," said the Rev. Martin B. Copenhaver, senior pastor of the Wellesley Congregational Church, in an open letter to Obama that he read during a joint service with the Historic Charles Street AME Church in Roxbury. "But let us be clear about this: We do not look to you to be our savior. We already have one . . . If ever we heap too many expectations on you, find ways to remind us, as we seek to remind you, that we need a president and not a savior."

Many projected the hopes of their own communities onto a president-elect who has promised change.

"One of the things that's historic and inspirational about this moment is that it shows us that if we were to work in the right way, that someone who is the son of an immigrant, as many of us here are, can aspire to playing a central, critical role in the shaping of our society," Bilal Kaleem told about 200 worshipers seated on the floor of the new Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury on Friday.

Recognizing the significance of this weekend's preaching, the Library of Congress's American Folklife Center invited congregations around the nation to submit audio and video of sermons for a collection at the library.

"We're aware of the tremendous interest and awareness in the country of this event, in the country and the world, and in thinking about how we would fulfill our documentary mission in this regard, we thought we would document oratory," said David A. Taylor, head of programs and research at the center.

Even in denominations whose leaders have considerable differences with Obama, the tone was hopeful. Catholic bishops have been sharply critical of Obama's support for abortion rights, but several priests still looked forward with optimism.

At the St. Anthony Shrine in Boston, about 120 people, many bundled up in winter jackets, listened quietly as the Rev. David Convertino spoke about the "rebirth" of the country at a Mass that concluded with a singing of "America the Beautiful."

"What will change in this rebirth, this chance to begin again on this inauguration?" he asked, before the congregation prayed for Obama, his wife, and their daughters. "We pray that his presidency would be a catalyst for the healing of a nation."

At St. Mary Catholic Church in Lynn, Monsignor Paul V. Garrity wrote an inaugural letter in his parish bulletin urging prayers for the unborn, but also saying Obama's election "represents the turning of a page in our nation's history that has needed to be turned for a very long time." And at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Chestnut Hill, the Rev. Joseph Nolan alluded to the opposition of some Catholics to Obama, but said, "What can we say - and pray - about the inaugural of our new president, Barack Obama, a message that can come from all of us with jubilation, regardless of whom we voted for? The answer is easy and wonderful: What is happening is a tremendous rollback of our national sin of racial prejudice."

At the evangelical First Baptist Church in Middleborough, the Rev. Jason D. Genest also urged prayers for the president, saying, "It is not a matter of whether or not we want to pray for the president and other leaders of government; we MUST pray for them. President Bush has assured us time and time again that he felt the prayers of so many while in office. We owe the same to our next president."

In more liberal denominations, there was unfettered partisan exuberance.

On Saturday morning, Rabbi Barbara Penzner told about 35 worshipers at Temple Hillel B'nai Torah in West Roxbury, "I believe in Barack Obama," offering a critique of the Bush administration and saying, "Our country has been through a desolate time, a time of doubt and despair. We have wandered in the wilderness for too long."

Similarly, at the Episcopal Church of St. Andrew in Marblehead yesterday, the Rev. Susan H. Russell told about 45 worshipers that Obama offered "a far cry from the message of fear we have heard in years past, that turned people inward, made them self protective and fueled hatred and suspicion of anyone different from ourselves."

And in predominantly African-American congregations, the enthusiasm was overflowing - cheers when Obama's name was uttered, cheers when the inauguration was mentioned. The city's largest black church, Jubilee Christian Church in Mattapan, has declared tomorrow "Barack Obama Day" and is closing its doors so staff can stay home and watch the inauguration with their families.

Several dozen local inaugural sermons can be found at www.boston.com/religion. Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com. Jamie Vaznis of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Emily Canal, John Guilfoil, and Casey Ramsdell contributed to this report.