Thoughts About Election Night

First a disclaimer: My views don't necessarily represent those of Epic Church nor its staff. I realize there are good people, and a good many of people who may differ with me on who should have been the next president, as well as differ on the various issues at stake. I simply wanted to journal somewhere about what I experienced a week ago tonight on Election Night.

I was actually at a conference in San Diego with other pastors from around the country. After dinner, a few of us headed to the Karl Strauss Brewery next door to our hotel to catch the final results and to witness the speech of our next president.

Ken Fong of Evergreen LA, Jospeh Tseng of Vision Church in NYC, DJ Chuang of Leadership Network/L2 Foundation, and I saddled up to the bar with a big screen TV in front of us. I thought it was a pretty electric atmosphere in the full restaurant...most everyone was fixated on the election coverage, including the hosts, waiters, and waitresses.

When Obama finally made his way out onto the stage at Grant Park, I turned to Ken and observed, "He looks humbled, he understands and is appreciative of what's just happened to him." Obama's speech was certainly one of the most moving I've ever heard. At once humble, gracious, inclusive, determined, and inspiring, I was impressed at the way he was attempting to pull Americans together, appealing to those who voted for him, and especially those who didn't. As the cameras panned the crowd throughout the speech, it was apparent all the people in tears...no doubt overcome with joy at the historic outcome, but also, I think, with tears of hope, hinting at all the pain many Americans are feeling...hope that things can change. I thought it was a beautiful moment.

A few nights earlier on Charlie Rose, NBC News' Tom Brokaw called Barak Obama 'the first postmodern president.' And that really resonated with me for a lot of different reasons. Obviously he's the first black president in US history. But his story - born to a Kenyan father and Kansas mother, growing up in a single-parent home, raised by his grandmother in Hawaii - in his own words somewhat of a 'mutt', and certainly not the usual person of privilege. His use of language speaks well to this generation. Then there is his bottom-up approach influenced by his community organizing work, and his open approach to foreign diplomacy. When you add the results of what exit polls suggest, that Obama won the election among minorities, women, and young people - all of this seems in part to support Brokaw's keen assertion.

Later that night back in my hotel room, one of Charlie Rose's guests commented on something an ordinary American had said at one of the polling stations: "Rosa Parks sat so MLK could walk so Barak Obama could run, so Americans could fly." It may have been lyrical, but poignant nonetheless.

Today, I read a really good op-ed in the LA Times "A Vote Too Late For Obama" that I think captures well what I've been thinking and feeling in the week since, except that I did vote, and glad that I did. As we've taught at Epic, our ultimate hope can never be in an office, or a government, or a nation. But for one night, I had that unfamiliar feeling: I was really proud to be an American.