When unity snuck up on me

“I would describe it as an outpouring of brotherhood and a wonderful flow of positive sentiment and a great, great day,” 50-year-old Ken Straus of New York City said to me, gesturing to the masses surrounding us on the fields of the National Mall hours before President Obama was inaugurated.

To my surprise, I wholeheartedly agreed.

Nothing could have prepared me for today. I expected the hour of weaving through congested crowds that make a John Mayer concert look like child’s play. I expected the bridges and streets and highways to look like they would crumble and fall to the earth’s core under the weight of the determined travelers’ heavy feet. I expected the street vendors selling Obama memorabilia in every form imaginable. I expected the various Christian groups passing out tracts. I expected deafening cheers, thousands of portable toilets and the freezing cold air.

Well, maybe I lied a little bit about the last one. I knew it would be cold, but I was not prepared for the frigidity that would numb my bundled-up body to the point that I could only lift my feet several inches from the ground before stiffness took over. The man giving out free hot coffee samples on the walk back from the inauguration was an absolute saint. Nonetheless, my multiple layers of clothing gave away some foreknowledge of the cold I would face.

What I did not expect was unity.

Yes, I grew up chanting “One nation, under God, indivisible,” but many Americans don’t give the impression of being proud that they bleed red, white and blue. Maybe I was just focusing too much on the pessimism in this nation, but I definitely saw a lot of division and very little unity. Abortion. Gay marriage. The war. Health care. Money. Money. Money. Angry, shouting, hostile sign-waving protesters.

Division.

But not today. Today I couldn’t have agreed more with Straus’ statement. As I began talking with some of the people around me, I began to see that they were truly proud to be Americans in this day and age and exuberant to be part of something so monumental. When I asked 29-year-old Javeriah Haleem what she was looking forward to most about Obama being in office, she quickly responded “A change in the way we’re viewed around the world and a change in the way we feel about the country right now.”

If today was a taste of this shifting pride among our nation’s citizens, fill my cup.

As a crowd of 2 million, we celebrated by singing and dancing to “Shout” and “American Pie.” We waved American flags high and cheered on our newly elected president. We contemplated the leaps and bounds our nation has made in a matter of decades, so much so that a man who’s father might have been refused service as a result of his race is now the president of the United States. We prayed together for our nation and for President Obama to have wisdom and integrity and courage. Regardless of any person’s political leanings, I think that the longing for the guidance of the president elect by the Almighty God is something that he or she can be passionate about. That can unify.

As I stood today in the icy DC air, sneaking a peek at the thousands of heads bowed in reverence around me, I couldn’t help but think to myself that this is the way God wants a nation to be. As I listened to the occasional “Amen!” and the person behind me repeating Rick Warren’s prayer word-for-word, I couldn’t help but realize that God is not dead in America and that He will touch more hearts than we could ever know. As I heard thousands of people recite the Lord’s Prayer, I couldn’t help but marvel at the greatness of our God, the One who will one day bring eternal unity.

He will unify.