Opened with a welcome and a joke about people who came to church just so they could tell their parents or people they're having lunch with later that they did.The Rev. Dr. Luis León has led Saint John's Church in Washington, D.C. since 1995, and was invited to deliver the benediction at Obama's second inauguration, CNN reported. He also delivered the invocation at George W. Bush's second inauguration in 2005.
What God wants of every one of us is to believe as much as we can at a given moment ... it's all right to have doubts.
We often want things to go back to the way things used to be, before "work got difficult and faith got confused, and life got more confusing," but when we dwell on the "if only" of life we forget that "God addresses us in the now."
As Jesus told Mary not to hold on to the past, "You cannot go back."
"It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back ... for blacks to be back in the back of the bus ... for women to be back in the kitchen ... for immigrants to be back on their side of the border."
"The message of Easter is about the power of love over loveless power."
"Easter vision" will allow you to see the whole world in a different way. "There is no injustice so insidious that there can be no truth ... no war so deep that there can be no peace ... no enemy so bitter that they can't become a friend."
"Easter vision" means recognizing reality in a new and wonderful way.
"May God bless you with Easter vision now and forever."
Saint John's Church's is gay-affirming and blesses gay and lesbian unions, and has been attended both by President Obama and former President George W. Bush. After Passion City Church leader Louie Giglio decided to decline the invitation to lead the benediction due to protests against an anti-homosexuality sermon he preached 20 years ago, many had predicted that the minister chosen to replace him would be gay-affirming.
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