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President Obama and his family will be going to church this Easter Sunday but White House aides are not revealing which church they'll be attending for security and privacy reasons.
For more than a year now, Obama has been attending church sparingly, 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.
In February, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the first couple visited a couple of churches around the time of his inauguration and said they wanted to visit some more.
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," Gibbs reported.
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.
"Now, I've got a wonderful community of people who are praying for me every day, and they call me up and - you know, but it's not the same as going to church and the choir's going and you get a good sermon," he said in an interview aired by ABC's "This Week."
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Though many Christians will be hoping that Obama finds the right church soon and makes the time to attend regularly, they're also hoping that Christ remains "a [daily] source of strength and sustenance" for Obama, as he claimed He was during the church-hosted Civil Forum on the Presidency last year.
"While Christians hope that the Obamas will worship regularly, they are equally concerned that the new president faithfully reads the Bible, seeks God's strength and guidance through prayer, and strives to base his policies on biblical principles," commented Dr. Gary Scott Smith, author of <i>Faith and the Presidency: From George Washington to George W. Bush</i>.
According to reports, United Church of Christ, Methodist, nondenominational, and historic black congregations have all extended invitations to the Obamas to attend their services.
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.
The Rev. Derek Harkins, pastor of the 19th Street Baptist, told the Washington Post on Thursday that he was still waiting to hear back from the White House regarding Obama's possible attendance.
"We have not heard anything from the White House," he said.
