Is Obama bringing (God) back in style?

“God bless the United States of America…” Thus ended President Obama’s inauguration speech on this beautiful, monumental, and historic day. It’s a new day, and you can feel the change in the air – the hope – the excitement – the joy. We’ve waited a long time for this kind of change to come, and now more than ever is the hour. I noticed something particular in the ceremonies today, though, something which hearkened back to a simpler, humbler time, when going to church on Sundays was the norm and unmarried men over the age of 30 were shunned.

Now I’ve always had my own interpretation of what “God” signifies, but I thought that was sort of a bad word amongst the intelligent and otherwise well-educated folks, at the least something you kind of kept to yourself, or reserved for your intimate friends and family. Throughout the ceremonies of the day, though, I kept noticing the references, prayers and benedictions to God. Is “He” suddenly cool, or am I missing something?

In times of crisis we tend to call on the greater power we instinctively feel is ultimately responsible for whatever mess we’ve got ourselves into, and these are definitely tough times, but who (or what) is God really? Is he/she/it this great benevolent being looking down upon us, judging our actions, and deciding what happens next? I don’t think so. Is he/she/it this multi-faceted all powerful being who can manifest into whatever form he/she/it wants and helps us battle the forces of evil on earth? Unlikely…. Is he/she/it blessing us every minute of every day with this great and magnificent existence we call life? Apparently…or something is blessing us with this existence, and whatever words we choose to call that, Obama wasn’t batting an eye in calling it forth.

Now President Obama may not be the last word in cool, but right now he’s pretty damn close. I don’t care what you call it, but there’s a great force of life that’s undeniably behind all of this existence and that force gives me the hope and strength to keep going. The bottom line is, whatever we choose to call it – God, Goddess, Great Spirit, Beloved, Source – that force of life which runs through our veins and drives all of existence is here now, and right now, I’m just grateful.

May the force be with you.

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow. I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.
~Rabindranath Tagore