(RNS5-JAN19) Doves are released in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. and hope for President-elect Barack Obama, outside of Masjid Muhammad in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. For use with RNS-DC-CHURCHES, transmitted Jan. 19, 2009. Religion News Service Photo by David Jolkovski.
(RNS5-JAN19) Doves are released in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. and hope for President-elect Barack Obama, outside of Masjid Muhammad in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. For use with RNS-DC-CHURCHES, transmitted Jan. 19, 2009. Religion News Service Photo by David Jolkovski.
(RNS5-JAN19) Doves are released in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. and hope for President-elect Barack Obama, outside of Masjid Muhammad in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. For use with RNS-DC-CHURCHES, transmitted Jan. 19, 2009. Religion News Service Photo by David Jolkovski.
(RNS5-JAN19) Doves are released in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. and hope for President-elect Barack Obama, outside of Masjid Muhammad in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. For use with RNS-DC-CHURCHES, transmitted Jan. 19, 2009. Religion News Service Photo by David Jolkovski.
(RNS5-JAN19) Doves are released in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. and hope for President-elect Barack Obama, outside of Masjid Muhammad in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. For use with RNS-DC-CHURCHES, transmitted Jan. 19, 2009. Religion News Service Photo by David Jolkovski.
WASHINGTON-At Foundry United Methodist Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, teens wearing plastic gloves made sandwiches and snack bags for the needy and sang “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”
A block away, a volunteer at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church was keeping a chicken-peanut stew ready for people needing to stop by for warmth or prayer during the day of community service that was part of inauguration festivities.
Meanwhile, across town, Muslims gathered to release doves-44 of them, one for each U.S. president-in honor of both the King holiday on Monday (Jan. 19) and the inauguration on Tuesday.
Across the nation’s capital, dozens of congregations have opened their doors with King-related service projects or a place to warm up during several chilly days of inaugural festivities. Organizers say the unprecedented hospitality was prompted by an emotional swell of sentiment surrounding King and President-elect Obama-and a pragmatic response to the millions of out-of-town visitors expected to descend on the city’s center for the swearing-in and the parade on Tuesday.
Liz Meek, 16, of Madison, N.J., joined a friend for the trip to the inauguration that included sleeping in a Sunday school room at Foundry and cutting vegetables at a long metal kitchen table that would be used for soup distributed by a local charity. She saw her work as a way to answer the call issued by the new first family to make positive changes in society.
“I thought this was a good idea because it’s something that you can actually do as a part of the change,” said Meek, a high school sophomore. “It’s important to actually be active in it, as opposed to just supporting it.”
At St. Luke’s, the stained-glass sanctuary was open for prayer and a large television stood waiting for watchers in a fellowship hall.
“What we want to do is to create a space for people to reflect and meditate on the significance of the day, and to then provide possibilities of reconciliation and also restoration,” said Chuck Wynder, a volunteer at the historically black congregation. “Churches play a role in creating those safe and welcome places.”
The welcome was appreciated by Pastor Glenn Keller of Burleson, Texas, who paid $100 a day to park his Coachmen recreation vehicle in the church’s small parking lot, just blocks from the White House.
Keller said the parking lot fundraiser will hopefully help him get his 80-year-old mother a closer view of the inaugural events. “It was really worth it,” he said. “She just wanted to be here.”
About 40 people have signed up to park their cars in the lot for $50. The spots allow drivers a chance to beat the traffic and even spend the night snoozing on the church’s pews so they can get an early start for the Tuesday ceremonies.
Churches said the hospitality outreach was driven both by their own desire to assist the massive crowds and to respond to the Obamas’ request that people across the nation commit to acts of service to honor King.
In a statement issued Monday, Obama said King’s life was one “lived in loving service to others. As we honor that legacy, it’s not a day to pause and reflect-it’s a day to act.”
The president-elect spent part of the day traveling around the city, painting a homeless shelter, visiting wounded troops and encouraging people who were sending messages to service members.
The Rev. Clark Lobenstine, executive director of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, said the outpouring of service projects and outreach by congregations was unprecedented for inauguration season in Washington.
“I think the opportunities for working together on this are immense and are clearly evoking a response from congregations that didn’t happen four years ago, eight years ago or 12 years ago,” he said.
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Though downtown churches were key in rolling out the welcome mat, non-Christian congregations were also marking King Day with special activities. At Washington Hebrew Congregation, hundreds of volunteers signed up for a work day that included making sandwiches and casseroles to feed the city’s needy.
“I got a lot of people coming from out of town that were looking for a work day,” said Layne Weiss, assistant to the head rabbi at the Reform congregation. “More people are really inspired and want to be together and participate.”
A coalition of a dozen Muslim groups released the 44 doves outside the Masjid Muhammad on Monday morning.
“It’s kind of a dual event,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which helped organize the event. “We just wanted kind of a unique way to mark President Obama’s inauguration from the perspective of the American Muslim community.”
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