Father's Day Sermon -- By Barack Obama

Yesterday Barack Obama gave a powerful Father's Day sermon to the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago. It was a sermon that spoke from his own experience growing up without a father -- but recognizing that he had the benefit not only of a committed mother, but grandparents who stood by him. It's a call to higher expectations for fathers and for children. It's a call to responsibility for one's family and one's actions. It's a call to empathy for others. Yes, this is a message from a politician, but it's more than that -- it's a message that is thoroughly biblical and derived from a deep faith.

A couple of lines: "A father's responsibilities don't end at conception," and it's the courage to raise a child that makes a father."

He notes that he's not a perfect father, but he also makes it clear that when he became a father he decided that he would break the cycle and embrace his family. As one whose father left home when I was in high school, but not only that, was largely absent when he was with us, I identify with his message.

Here is the you tube complete sermon.




h/t to Andrew Sullivan.

Comments

Anonymous said…
My abusive biological father left when I was 11. My mother remarried and I was adopted at 13 and so had the benefit of a good, caring father, too. But it took me until the end of high school to really understand what I had with my new father.

I also have worked to break the cycle--working hard to fix a marriage that wasn't working so that I would not abandon my kids. I hope this message is taken to heart.

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