Life, life and more life

Life, life and more life. It is the story of God's word going out and bearing fruit. It is the picture of God's "let there be" and all creations response. It is the gift of glory embodied in every sunrise, apple blossom and nursing infant.

This weekend Jen and I received a refresher course on life. It came in the form of Asher Philip Petersen. Fearfully and wonderfully made Asher. Made in the image of the Living God Asher. Full of life, life, and more life Asher. New life. Life abundant, overflowing, bursting at the seams. We welcome Asher, and people will call us Happy.


Like all parents some of my earliest hopes and dreams for Asher involve a world that is more full of the "life abundant" that Jesus promised than the world we live in today. I want more for my sons. More justice, more beauty, more love. I want more than this world could ever give them.

We don't have cable at home. We do in room 208 at Metro Hospital. So it has been interesting to me that the few times we turned it on Monday we were awash in images of both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and soon to be President Barack Obama. Along with those images we have been hearing sound bites and commentary that reflect a lot of the hope that Asher kindled in my heart already this week.

There was so much being said about Dr. King's dream and rightfully so. His dream is one of our best national treasures. If you've never heard the whole speech that held it, do so. today. here. seriously.

For the last 40 years his dream of a nation where his children, and your children, and Eli and Asher are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character, has inspired and moved us to be a better nation. I am glad that Obama's election has raised that dream to a new level of public discourse. And I am glad that we can acknowledge victory even as we recognize how far we have to go before his success translates into equality in education and opportunity for every child.

I think President Obama generates so much hope in us because he is a canvas that we can paint our own dreams on. Regardless of our agreement or disagreement with his political ideology or decisions we can all understand that his presence in the White House reflects something more just than what our society has previously known.

I am glad that people are asking if Obama embodies the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream. But even as the media coverage was reminding me of Dr. King's dream of racial equality, I was struck by the absence of so many other words of Dr. King.

Where was the King who said "nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time, the need for man for overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression."? Who is asking if Obama embodies this dream for our nation and her foreign policy?

Where was the King who said "The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" Who is asking if Obama will encourage this dream in his call for public service?

Where was the King who said "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."? Who is asking if Obama will put forward this dream in his re-regulation of the business and banking sector?

And especially, where was the Preacher King who spoke not just of a national promised land, but a coming Kingdom that would encompass all creation? The King who said "I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."
I could write a couple thousand words on my sorrow regarding America's selective memory of Dr. King's words and domestication of his challenge, but not today. What I will say is this.

Today I will watch Barack Hussein Obama become the 44th President of the United States of America. While I watch, I will hold my son Asher, I will think of my son Eli and I will be glad. Glad that in their most formative years the most powerful person in their world looks more like their black neighbors than their father. Glad that equality will be more of a reality because of one mans courage to lead. Glad that a word like hope has returned to the American conversation too often dominated by fear and prejudice.

And I will also be glad that they are growing up in a community that claims that our hope rests in Christ alone. Glad that they will look to no man or woman as a savior but him who died for them. Glad that they will learn to strive not just for a better America, but for a coming Kingdom that is filled to the brim with life, life and more life.