BO Inaugural Sermons and Homilies?
Our librarian passes along an initiative by the Library of Congress to collect sermons and homilies that reference the inauguration of BO as the 44th President of the US. She writes:
The Library of Congress is soliciting sermons that comment on the significance of the inauguration of 2009 and are being delivered between Friday, Jan. 16 and Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009. They are collecting audio and video recordings, as well as paper copies for their archival collection documenting significant American events. Their invitation provides an unusual opportunity to document the Catholic perspective for those who may be interested in participating. The full press release on the project and requirements are below:
From: Cheryl Adams [mailto:cada@loc.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 7:27 AM
To: atlantis
Subject: [atlantis] LC seeks Sermons and Orations Relating to 2009 Presidential InaugurationPress Release:
December 23, 2008
Press contact: Erin Allen (202) 707-7302, eral at loc.gov
David Taylor (202) 707-1737, dtay at loc.govLIBRARY OF CONGRESS SEEKS SERMONS AND ORATIONS
RELATING TO 2009 PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATIONOver many decades, the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress has documented everyday citizens reactions to major historic events in our collective American experience. For instance, man-on-the-street interviews were recorded on the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941; Italian-Americans were documented to celebrate the Columbus Quincentenary in 1992; interviews were conducted with Americans across the nation in the weeks following the tragedy of September 11, 2001; and the Veterans History Project is preserving the personal experience stories of Americans who served the nation in wartime. These voices of ordinary Americans responding to extraordinary events exist as valuable research collections for the scholars of today and they are a cultural legacy preserved for future generations.
On January 20, 2009, the United States will inaugurate Barack Obama, the countrys first African-American president. In anticipation of citizens efforts to mark this historic time around the country, the AFC will be collecting audio and video recordings of sermons and orations that comment on the significance of the inauguration of 2009. It is expected that such sermons and orations will be delivered at churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship, as well as before humanist congregations and other secular gatherings. The AFC is seeking as wide a representation of orations as possible. This collection is one of many oral history and spoken word collections at the AFC that preserve American emotions and memories of important cultural events.
Congregations and groups interested in contributing to this once-in-a-lifetime documentary project are asked to record sermons and orations delivered during Inauguration Week 2009 and donate them to the Library of Congress. The donated recordings will be preserved at the AFC in order to enhance the nations historical record and preserve the voices of religious leaders and other orators for researchers and scholars of the future. After being processed by archivists, the collection will be made available to scholars, students and the general public.Individuals and groups interested in contributing to the Inauguration 2009 Sermons and Orations Project are asked to submit audio and video recordings made in digital or other approved formats. To be accepted into the collection, the recordings must be of sermons and orations that were delivered to congregations and other audiences between Friday, Jan. 16 and Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009.
In addition to audio and video recordings, the AFC is collecting written texts of sermons and orations (submitted in the form of print or electronic media), as well as printed programs from the events during which the sermons and orations were delivered. All submissions must be postmarked by Feb. 27, 2009, and must be accompanied by a signed release form and completed data form, found on the AFC website, www.loc.gov
For additional information about the Inauguration 2009 Sermons and Orations Project, including the technical specifications of the recordings that can be accepted, downloadable copies of the required forms, and instructions for submitting collections, please visit www.loc.gov , or call the Center at (202) 707-5510 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, Eastern Standard Time.
The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Many of the Librarys rich resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Librarys Web site www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a new, personalized Web site at myLOC.gov.
The American Folklife Center was created by Congress in 1976 and placed at the Library of Congress to preserve and present American Folklife through programs of research, documentation, archival preservation, reference service, live performance, exhibition, public programs and training.
PR 08-234
12/19/08This information may be forwarded to appropriate listservs, organizations, or individuals. Apologies for any cross-posting or incorrect mailings that may occur.
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The text I’d preach on if I were a preacher? “I gave them a king in my wrath.” (Hosea 13:10, I think).
Comment by dim bulb — January 6, 2009 @ 5:45 PM
RE: Dim bulb,
Dead on. It’s Hosea 13:10. “I have given them Kings in my anger and taken them away in may wrath.”
Comment by Steven P. Cornett — January 6, 2009 @ 9:37 PM
As a moral theologian, I am totally into connecting the life of faith and the moral life when preaching from the pulpit. What I am not into is the politicization of faith or the tendency to just talk about current events in sermons. I really don’t think after all the hype for all the months preceding the election that we really need to hear a sermon on how significant Barack Obama is. Let’s hear some sermons over the next few Sundays about God’s sovereignty, about how he has brought about our salvation in Christ Jesus, about how we turn in on ourselves or choose lesser goods over the great gift of grace continuously offered to us by a loving and merciful God.
I attend two worship services every weekend. One is a Catholic Mass (I am Catholic) and the other is a Church of Christ service (my fiance is CoC). So I am getting a double dose of homilies/sermons and my constant complaint is that I don’t hear enough about God. I hear a lot about human beings, and in Boston, I hear a lot about social justice, but almost always from a human perspective and not from the perspective of the justice and righteousness of God.
Here’s hoping I get to hear about Isaiah or Acts or Mark this weekend, and not about Barack Obama.
Comment by Beth — January 7, 2009 @ 9:31 AM
This is interesting, Beth:
Let’s hear some sermons over the next few Sundays about God’s sovereignty, about how he has brought about our salvation in Christ Jesus, about how we turn in on ourselves or choose lesser goods over the great gift of grace continuously offered to us by a loving and merciful God.
As a daily Mass goer and seminarian, this is precisely what I don’t want to hear over the next few days. Why? Bottom line is, I can sit in my room all night long and exegete myself silly on Isaiah, Acts, and Mark. I often do, as far as my studies are concerned. And part of the problem with being in a seminary is that our academically oriented populace tends to do just that in their homilies.
But what tends to perk my ear up a bit is when people make the connection between Isaiah, Acts, and Mark to the present day, or to our community’s situation. This is wisdom, the acknowledgment that the theological concepts – you list “God’s sovereignty, about how he has brought about our salvation in Christ Jesus, about how we turn in on ourselves or choose lesser goods over the great gift of grace continuously offered to us by a loving and merciful God” – are as relevant to my day as they’ve been to ages past.
After all, how valuable are these theological issues in a homily if no one can relate to them through experience?
Comment by Josh Miller — January 8, 2009 @ 3:33 PM
I should clarify, of course, that I’d never advocate giving a homily based purely upon the inauguration. But I wouldn’t mind if someone referenced it.
As for myself, anything I would say about Obama in a homily would be a challenge for his administration, rather than a blanket affirmation of its existence.
Comment by Josh Miller — January 8, 2009 @ 3:42 PM