Day one, doorstep to the promised land.

[POAS]

It is two in the morning as I write this.

Not yet dawn in America on the day we celebrate a great victory in this fortieth year after we lost Martin.

“This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

The words of Martin Luther King, Jr. have helped guide a nation, a people, through this forty years of struggle. He told us that he saw the promised land but that he wouldn't get there with us. Today Martin's dream is on the doorstep of becoming our reality.

We are today standing on that doorstep to a new reality and a new struggle and a new dream.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Today Americans judged Barack Obama on the content of his character, not on the color of his skin. But even as we stand at this doorstep to Martin's “promised land”, as we stand here with Barack Obama ready to open the door and cross the threshold into this new land of promise and hope let us be mindful of what lies ahead as we open the door to this new age.

Today's dream, today's reality is one of a new struggle. A struggle to shape that envisioned promised land into a land of promise for all God's children.

“With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. “

Today let us celebrate on this day which the Lord has made.

Today let us join in brotherhood with Barack Obama and indeed with all our brothers and sisters in celebration but also in preparation for our new task.

Today we have a moment to celebrate. Tomorrow the struggle to rebuild begins.