January 16, 2009

CHICAGO – When Barack Obama is sworn into the nation's highest office Jan. 20, Carolyn Cosmos will be among an estimated 18,000 volunteers enlisted by the Presidential Inaugural Committee to help with the crush of spectators.

Cosmos joins a long list of members from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) involved in inaugural activities.

"One of the reasons I volunteer is that I want to be able to make a contribution," said Cosmos, a member of First Trinity Lutheran Church, Washington, D.C. She cited Obama's pledge to help society's most vulnerable – people in need of food, shelter and health care.

"That's always been a part of my faith," she said.

First Trinity is near the U.S. Capitol, the site of the noon swearing-in ceremony. In a show of hospitality, church members plan to offer free coffee to the public near a security checkpoint.

"Usually the weather is bitterly cold and this is a good outreach," said Trinity's pastor, the Rev. Wendy A. Moen. "We do this to show how we can love one another."

City officials predict as many as 2 million people may turn out for inaugural events. Some out-of-towners are lodging in area Lutheran churches.

Fifty high school students from Missouri plan to sleep on mattresses in Moen's church. A group of Minnesota students is staying four miles north of the White House at St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

"They're sleeping on the floors," said the Rev. Meredith D. Lovell, St. Paul's associate pastor. "We host groups throughout the year and see this as part of our hospitality. A church building isn't of much use if it sits empty throughout the week."

St. Paul's overnight homeless shelter is remaining open all day for the inauguration because many other social services are closing.

Valerie Minerovic, a 29-year-old member of St. Paul's, is helping coordinate a five-day inaugural educational conference for 15,000 students organized by the D.C.-based Congressional Youth Leadership Council.

"It's nice to be part of this because of the youth focus of Barack Obama," Minerovic said. During the swearing-in of the 44th U.S. president, she'll be at the National Mall watching history as captured on big screens.

"How I deal with the unknowns that crop up during the day can be the biggest expression of my faith," she said.

Deborah Lundahl is volunteering at a different kind of shelter – one of the federal disaster response sites where people will be ushered in the event of a mass emergency. Lundahl, 47, is a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Damascus, Md.

"I really look at my role as one of extending the hand of friendship to people who might be displaced very far from home," Lundahl said.

The Rev. Sherman G. Hicks, who faced housing discrimination while living in D.C. in the 1960s, is flying from Chicago to witness the shattering of racial barriers to the White House. Obama is biracial, identifies as an African American and is hailed as the nation's first black president.

"I always knew it could happen, but now I know," said Hicks, who oversees the ELCA's multicultural ministries. On the inaugural eve, he'll be at the unveiling of an Obama figure at the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Baltimore.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the 4.7 million member ELCA, plans to attend the inaugural ceremony as well as a Jan. 21 prayer service for the new president, vice president and their spouses at Washington National Cathedral.

The Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA executive for administration, is attending two inaugural events as Hanson's representative – an interfaith prayer service to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr., and the African American Church Inaugural Ball.

Lutherans of various traditions also are making a point to pray for the nation on the weekend before the inauguration. They're gathering Jan. 17 at Faith Lutheran Church in Arlington, Va.

"It's a time where the country is facing several crises," said the Rev. James B. Vigen, director of the gathering's sponsor – Luther Institute, Washington, D.C.

"We figured the president could use a lot of prayer," he said.

The inaugural schedule is at http://www.pic2009.org/pages/schedule/, on the Web.

ELCA News Service