Rev. Sharon Watkins to Deliver Sermon at Obama's Inauguration

First Woman to Deliver Inauguration Sermon

Reverend Sharon Watkins, president of the 700,000 member Disciples of Christ church, will deliver the inaugural sermon for President-elect Obama according to CNN. The sermon will take place during the national prayer service at the national Cathedral in Washington, D.C. At this time of crisis in America, let's hope the sermon of Rev. Sharon Watkins is inspiration and serves as a tool to help to start get America back on a path of strength and dignity.

This is the first time a woman has delivered the inaugural sermon. The tradition of having a sermon during the inauguration has been an ongoing American tradition since the first inauguration. President-elect Obama is breaking a lot of barriers for women. USA Today reports that Rev. Watkins plans her sermon to be "uplifting and appropriately challenging."

CNN reports that Rev. Sharon Watkins has stated "I am truly honored to speak at this historic occasion. I hope my message will call us to believe in something bigger than ourselves and remind us to reach out to all of our neighbors to build communities of possibility. "

I am ecstatic that President-elect Obama has chosen a woman to give the sermon during his inauguration. That is because I am Catholic and in the Catholic church women cannot be priests. This seemed weird to me when I was a child in Catholic school. Now, as an adult, it seems even odder to me that women cannot hold leadership positions in the Catholic religion. This seems a quaint, outdated rule that should be overturned in today's modern world.

I am also delighted with the choice of words by Rev. Watkins involving "communities of possibility." Too many towns and cities in America now are not places of possibility; they feel more like hopeless traps, a place to try to escape. Let's hope Rev. Watkins and President-elect Obama are able to inspire hope in Americans. Lately it seems as if hope is too often missing in America. Our nation is steeped in despair and bleakness.

As Obama becomes our leader let's pray he brings hope, respect for education, peace, and dreams of glory back to our nation.