Updated 11:59 pm.EST, Fri November 20, 2009

Church|Mon, Apr. 13 2009 10:04 AM EDT

Church-Less Obamas Join Episcopal Easter Service

By Eric Young|Christian Post Reporter

President Obama and his family attended the "Church of the Presidents" on Easter Sunday - a move which suggests that the Obamas have not yet decided on a home church.

  • obamas
    (Photo: AP / J. Scott Applewhite)
    President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama leave Easter worship services at St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House in Washington, Sunday, April 12, 2009.

St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington's Lafayette Square, which got its nickname from drawing every president since James Madison as an occasional attendee, opened its door to Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, who took communion there Sunday morning.

There has been no indication from White House officials, however, that Obama was seeking membership at St. John's, whose pastor referred to the president as simply "Barack" when he included him in his prayer Sunday.

For more than a year now, Obama has been sparingly attending church, partly because of his presidential campaign and also because he and his family have yet to settle on a new home church since an uproar over "divisive" comments made by their longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, prompted Obama to resign his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

Although a number of churches in the nation's capital have been extending invitations to Obama and his family since the president's victory in November, the Obamas are still trying to "figure out a congregation in the area that they can worship at," reported White House press secretary Robert Gibbs in February.

Before his inauguration, Obama said it would be "tougher" to make time to visit churches and "seeing what's comfortable" after he becomes president. He also said it has been difficult being without a worship community.

The Obamas had attended 19th Street Baptist Church in northwest Washington the Sunday before his inauguration and later at St. John's Episcopal Church on Obama's inauguration day - a tradition for those about to become president.

According to reports, United Church of Christ, Methodist, nondenominational, and historic black congregations have all extended invitations to the Obamas to attend their services.

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  • Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:16 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

    jester really both then i gave my life back to the lord

  • Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:47 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 1

    Rhi brans' issue is not with me, but with God

  • Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:46 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

    LiveRevolutionary...a lot can be said by the login you chose...

    absoulutely.

  • Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:37 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

    "I wonder how many of the people who destroyed the economic well being of our nation were asked to repent in their houses of worship. Public piety is a tricky thing."

    I wonder how many of these same people still consider themselves good Christians after the evil they've done to all of America. Public piety is a tricky thing, indeed. So many Christians are outwardly pious, quoting Scripture, praying on everything from personal health to taking out the garbage, but inwardly, they are empty. The Holy Spirit is absent and the teachings of Christ are only applied when it's convenient. And we all know there's greater grace when we stand by Christ when it is most difficult top do so.

    I'm very suspicious of public piety, of outward displays of religiosity, wearing Jesus on your sleeve, so to speak because, too often it is a disguise. Trite phrases of faith often become part of the social culture, like in the South and are said without thinking about the meaning which has become lost. It is the internalization of Christ's message that makes us pious, the true believing that leads us to act like Christians. Too many Christians display all the outward signs, use all the right buzz words, thank God at all the right times, but their words are hollow because their actions do not reflect Christ. I always take public piety with a grain of salt until I've seen whether it's lip service or is backed by behavior that shows me Jesus is more than a plastic fish on the trunk of the car. Actions speak louder than words.

  • Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:18 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

    I would assume that President Obama took Confession and repented of his sins. It is a prerequisite that, in order to receive Holy Communion, the participant must be free of sin, at least in the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. I believe it's no different amongst Episcopalians, so I would have to assume that President Obama took Confession and repented of his sins prior to receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.

    Of course, that's more a matter between the President and God than it is any our business. I regret how much of the private lives of public figures have become fodder for gossip under the guise of reporting.

  • Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:12 am Agree: 1   Disagree: 3

    LiveRevolutionary, wow, wickedness, terrorism of the womb. You are a verbal bomb thrower. Does that attract many people to your point of view who do not already share it? I missed where the president invited terrorism of the womb. He supports the current legal status of abortion and believes that the woman is a moral agent who can decide. So do I. So do a great many Christians. I don't remember the part of the Bible that made ones position on abortion the standard of faith and practice. I can read many stories of the Hebrew Scriptures where we are told God ordered the Isrealites (after the fighting was finished) to slay every man, woman, child and baby. Since no exception was made for the pregnant women (although in at least one case virgins females were spared) do you consider this to be an act of terrorism of the womb? I know a pastor in Japan who was the only survivor of his Christian school in Nagasaki. A lot of pregnant women were killed in this bombing of a civilian population (an action in violation of the just war doctrine espouse historically by Catholics and most Protestants). Was this terrorism of the womb? Most Americans feel it was a tragic necessity. Sometimes we choose terms to eliminate discussion rather than to promote it. It seems to me that is your purpose and you draw some since of superiority by denigrating the president.

  • Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:05 pm Agree: 2   Disagree: 5

    how is anyone's judgment of my statement any less wrong than for me to judge the wickedness of a president who invites terrorism of the womb?

  • Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:41 pm Agree: 6   Disagree: 2

    Since the Episcopal service includes a confession of sins, I would think that everyone in the congregation was invited to reflect upon his or her life and make confession before God. Though I suspect LiveRevolutionary was thinking about his (or her) own judgement of the President. Did LiveRevolutionary repent of his/her sins before taking holy communion? Maybe it's none of my business. Just as President Obama's relationship with God is private.
    I wonder how many of the people who destroyed the economic well being of our nation were asked to repent in their houses of worship. Public piety is a tricky thing. Most clergy avoid saying anything that will get them in trouble with those whose support they need to remain employed.

  • Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:31 pm Agree: 4   Disagree: 2

    "Its amazing how interested certain people are in 'if' 'when' and 'where' this family attends Church.

    We should be more concened with working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. But i guess its more interesting to work out someone elses..."

    For many of the people posting on these boards, it is INDEED more interesting to work out someone elses' because they've been unable to work out their own.

  • Mon Apr 13, 2009 1:37 pm Agree: 4   Disagree: 1

    Its amazing how interested certain people are in 'if' 'when' and 'where' this family attends Church.

    We should be more concened with working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. But i guess its more interesting to work out someone elses...

  • Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:00 am Agree: 2   Disagree: 4

    i wander if the priest asked barack to repent for he par took in the holy communion

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