‘We will be judged’: Biden asks Americans to step up together to crises
In his first moment as president, Joe Biden spoke about unity and quoted Scripture. Screenshot from the livestream.
WASHINGTON — Leaders of America gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday morning to witness the inauguration of Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Devi Harris as the President and Vice President of the United States.
Biden quoted from Psalm 30:5 in his address to the world, reminding Americans that “joy cometh in the morning” after “a time of testing”: attacks on U.S. democracy, the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism.
“Are we going to step up?” he asked. “All of us? … we will be judged, you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era.”
Biden also praised the peaceful transition of power and triumph of democracy after the Jan. 6 violence at Capitol Hill.
“Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but a cause, a cause of democracy,” Biden said during his address. “The people, the will of the people has been heard. Democracy is fragile, but democracy has prevailed.”
Read: Flags, Faith And Fury: Christian Nationalism On Display In U.S. Capitol Riot
The event was more than a political transition for the 46th President of the United States. It was the historical door for the first African American woman, first woman of South Asian descent and first woman to become vice president.
“Great day, the righteous marching… God's going to build up Zion's walls,” said Rev. Dr. Paula Matabane. A minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who sang parts of the Negro spiritual as she watched the inauguration on TV from her Atlanta, Ga. home. The last line of the lyrics says, “This is the day of jubilee.”
Matabane was jubilant because her vote was among those who gave Georgia to Biden by less than 1,200 votes on Nov. 3.
Also notable was the Bible Harris chose to swear her oath of office on, which belonged to the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Biden was sworn in on a 127-year-old family Bible.
Rev. Benjamin Chavis, a veteran Civil Rights leader who was one of the Wilmington 10, watched the inauguration from home. “This means that Dr. King’s dream continues to be fulfilled in the lives of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris,” he said. “They represent the next leg in the race.”
Father Leo O’Donavan III, a Jesuit priest, former president of Georgetown University and friend of the Biden family, gave a short invocation and prayer acknowledging the diversity of the country and asking God to assist Biden in his presidency “that his administration may be conducted in righteousness and be imminently useful to your people.”
He also asked God to forgive Americans for failing to live according to God’s vision for equality, inclusion and freedom.
Notably absent from the inauguration events (and not invited) were White evangelical leaders, Trump’s critical base. Still, Trump’s second-in-command who led evangelical outreach Mike Pence attended with his wife and greeted Harris. Out of 23 top leadership positions in Biden’s cabinet, there are six Black Americans, four Hispanic Americans, three Asian Americans and one Native American, and about half are women: a signal of the significance he places on racial and gender diversity. None are White evangelicals.
Franklin Graham, evangelical leader, son of the popular revivalist preacher Billy Graham and Trump supporter, remained quiet online about Biden’s inauguration but thanked former President Donald Trump and the former First Lady for their time in the White House. “Thank you Mr. President and First Lady Melania for these last four years and all that you have done for our nation,” he tweeted. “May God be with you and your family as you open a new chapter in your lives.”
The youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, Amanda Gorman, recited her poem “The Hill We Climb,” reflecting on America’s multiculturalism and fraught past with slavery and racism.
“Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid,” Gorman said, referencing Micah 4:4. “If we’re to live up to her own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.”
America’s first president and Founding Father George Washington often referred to the biblical image of a vine and fig tree, referring to a farmer’s independence from military oppression or state intrusion. The reference was popularized in the musical “Hamilton” about the life of the Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
Many celebrities also participated in the inauguration, including Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks, who sang “Amazing Grace”.
Biden is expected to sign 17 executive orders just hours after swearing in as president, reversing Trump’s policies on immigration, the environment, pandemic response and the economy as well as pushing through federal efforts to improve racial equity through diversity trainings in government offices. Reversing the so-called “Muslim ban,” Biden will end Trump’s travel ban imposed on several Muslim-majority and African countries.
Rev. Dr. Silvester S. Beaman, pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, delivered the closing prayer.
“God we gather in the beauty of your holiness and the holiness of your beauty,” said Beamon, who has known Biden for many years. “We pray for your divine favor for our President Joseph R. Biden and our First Lady and their family as well as for our Vice President Kamala D. Harris and our Second Man Doug Emhoff. More than ever they and our nation need you. For in you we discover our humanity.”
Republicans join Democrats for Catholic Mass
Biden, who is Catholic, invited congressional leaders of both political parties to attend Mass with him at St. Matthews Catholic Cathedral Wednesday morning as Donald Trump left the White House.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Minority leader Chuck Schumer, along with Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, attended.
While there was no parade, there was a motorcade that included drum lines from Howard University and the University of Delaware. On Thursday, a virtual interfaith prayer service will feature ministers from a wide spectrum of faith where Rev. William Barber, the leader of the Poor People’s campaign will deliver the main message.
“We pray for the countless families and relatives who had to surrender their loved ones without the comfort and the consolation of a familiar funeral ritual, according to their religious traditions or selection,” Cardinal Gregory prayed Tuesday night.
“May our prayer this evening serve as a small expression of our national desire to comfort and strengthen those who have endured the loss of a loved one to this pandemic, and may it be a resounding gesture of gratitude for all those who have cared for the victims of this virus, and their loved ones,” he added.
Remembering lives lost to COVID-19
Reflecting on the loss of 400,000 Americans to COVID-19, Biden began his inauguration events in prayer Tuesday evening at the Lincoln Memorial's reflecting pool with worship and spiritual songs that included “Amazing Grace”.
“To heal, we must remember,” said Biden, who was joined by his wife as well as Harris and her husband.
“Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights into the darkness ... and remember all who we lost,” he added.
Unlike Biden’s arrival in Washington, D.C. by train from Wilmington, Delaware like he did when he was inaugurated as vice president during President Barack Obama’s inauguration, there were no screaming crowds or political signs. On the National Mall fortified by tall fences and thousands of army troops, a sea of American flags replaced people, but millions are watching the inauguration events streamed online.
“For many months we have grieved by ourselves,” Harris said. “Tonight, we suffer and begin healing together.” Harris started the ceremony that included songs offered by Lori Marie Key, a 29-year-old nurse at the Saint Joseph Mercy Health System in Michigan, who sang "Amazing Grace” while wearing a hospital jacket.
“We turn to the Lord of all to receive these, our sisters and brothers, into eternal peace, and to comfort all those who grieve the loss of a loved one,” prayed Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C. who offered the invocation facing the Lincoln Memorial. “We do so not as strangers or disinterested persons, but as fellow citizens who share some limited portion of their grief and sorrow.”
Grammy award-winning singer Yolanda Adams sang a contemplative rendition of "Hallelujah” as Biden, his wife Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff stood in front of the reflecting pool illuminated by 400 lighted panels to honor COVID-19 victims.
Meagan Clark is the managing editor of Religion Unplugged.
Senior contributor Hamil Harris is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland College Park and has been a lecturer at Morgan State University. Harris is minister at the Glenarden Church of Christ and a police chaplain. A longtime reporter at The Washington Post, Harris was on the team of Post reporters that published the series “Being a Black Man.” He also was the reporter on the video project that accompanied the series that won two Emmy Awards, the Casey Medal and the Peabody Award. In addition to writing for ReligionUnplugged, Harris contributes to outlets such as The Washington Post, USA Today, The Christian Chronicle and the Washington Informer.