In churches, prayer, thanks for Obama

Special joy and hopes move black congregations

Paul Williams, daughter Maya, and wife Tyeshia lifted their voices yesterday at the Greater Love Tabernacle Church in Dorchester. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)

Churches around the city with predominantly black congregations yesterday celebrated the election victory of Barack Obama in prayer, song, and exclamations of Hallelujah.

"I want all of us to pray for him," the Rev. Arthur T. Gerald Jr. told a packed crowd of worshipers at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury. "He has a very tough road to go. The economy is crumbling in front of us as I speak. We have two different wars. This man of God is going to be in need of prayers."

Greater Love Tabernacle Church in Dorchester held a ceremony last night devoted exclusively to celebrating Obama's victory Tuesday, while other churches mentioned the president-elect during the regular services, often prompting widespread applause and standing ovations.

At a crowded Morningstar Baptist Church in Mattapan, worshipers cheered yesterday morning when a young guest preacher asked, almost apologetically, "You mind if I talk about Barack?" during a rousing sermon that otherwise focused on what the Bible promises to believers of Jesus Christ.

"When people doubt there can be change in our government, God can make the difference," said the Rev. Michael David Bailey, 23, an associate minister of First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Conn.

He said he cried Tuesday when Obama was elect ed the nation's first black president.

Last night, red, white and blue balloons and the singing of hymns greeted participants at Greater Love Tabernacle's Obama service. A projection screen featured a picture of the Obama family along with the message, "Congratulations, President-elect Barack Obama."

"This presidential election is definitely a great historic milestone for all Americans, not just black Americans," the Rev. William E. Dickerson said in an interview before the service.

Dickerson said it was also a good time to pause and consider the work ahead.

"Nothing's ever magical," he said. "People who are joyful and ebullient, they need to be also realistic as it relates to what one man can deliver."

During the evening service, the crowd of 350 people shouted along during call-and-response hymns, throwing their hands in the air and waving paper fans. Some people wiped away tears as the projection screen at the front of the church showed a slideshow featuring Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"For so many years, people have said to little black boys and little black girls, you can be anything you want to be, even president of the United States," Dickerson told the crowd. "Now they can point to a reality of a black man becoming president."

"Those of us who said it would never happen in our lifetime - guess what? It happened in our lifetime," he said.

Across the nation, clergy at many churches urged daily prayers for Obama to help him lead the country and the world out of economic turmoil and war.

Perhaps nowhere was the weight of history more palpable yesterday than at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King spread his message of inclusion and near which he lies entombed.

When the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock tried to put into words what it meant for Obama to win in Virginia, where the first enslaved Africans were brought in America less than 400 years ago, his words were drowned out by applause and cheers from a capacity crowd whose faces reflected the spectrum of the human rainbow. He also reminded the congregation that the country still faces challenges.

"You have two little girls who will grow up in the White House," Warnock said. "Around the corner, you have two little girls who will grow up in a crack house."

Among those in attendance was the slain civil rights leader's sister, Christine King Farris.

"As he predicted the night before he left us, 'I may not be with you, but as a people we will reach the promised land,' " she said stoically. "That promised land was realized Tuesday. Yes, it is our promised land."

At Twelfth Baptist, several older worshipers fondly remembered King attending their church while he was a student at Boston University in the 1950s, making Obama's victory even more to savor.

"It's a blessing," said 81-year-old Charles Dawson of Roxbury, who dined with King at Dawson's mother's home. "I'm happy I lived long enough to see it."

Dawson wore an Obama pin on his suit jacket lapel and vowed he will wear it every day until Obama's inauguration.

Throughout the nearly three-hour service at Twelfth Baptist, Obama's victory kept coming up, even though the service was officially a back-to-school rally.

From the pulpit, Marnier Crockton, who attends Bowman Elementary School in Lexington through the Metco program, echoed Obama's campaign slogan "Yes, we can" when sharing her dreams of becoming a scientist someday.

"The future belongs to us," she triumphantly declared.

Brother Julian Braxton followed up by stressing the importance of education in overcoming adversity.

He pointed out that the thirst for knowledge transformed the lives of Obama and of Colin Powell, a former US secretary of state in the Bush administration who endorsed Obama shortly before the election.

"The message here is simple," Braxton said. "Stop complaining. Get to work. No excuses."

The church formally offered prayers to Obama twice. The second occasion ended with the singing of "Amazing Grace."

After the service, 80-year-old Dorothy Latham, who watched Obama's victory while working the coat check at Boston Symphony Hall, said she still feels as if she is living a dream.

"This is God's work," Latham said. "President-elect Obama is going to be successful not only in uniting this country, but everyone around the world.

John Drake of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Jillian Jorgensen, and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was also used.