We stand on the precipice of an historic Presidential inauguration. In the spirit of conciliation we must begin moving forward to address the great challenges of our day. Below are three open letters addressed to President-Elect Obama by Christians for whom I have great respect.

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“We Will Be Measured by Our Treatment of the Least and the Last”

by Rich Nathan, Senior Pastor of Vineyard Columbus

President Obama, on behalf of the Vineyard Church of Columbus, I offer our sincerest congratulations and encouragement as you assume the awesome task of providing leadership for our country and our world. As a Jewish-Christian pastor of a congregation that includes blacks and whites, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, the able-bodied and the disabled, old and young, rich and poor, Republican and Democrat, we come together now to support you as our president. We pledge to pray for you. Without God’s help we cannot succeed; with God’s help we cannot fail.

The greatness of our nation will continue to be measured by our treatment of the least and the last. In our country the least and the last surely include the unborn and their mothers, immigrants, the medically uninsured, and those who still go to bed hungry in this land of abundance. Our congregation urges you to fulfill your commitment to reduce the number of abortions in our nation. Around the world, America is our brothers’ keeper of those suffering in the Darfur and the Congo. Please work on behalf of those enslaved by global sex trafficking, the billion people who live on less than $2 a day, and those who are the victims of religious persecution. As you lead, remember Jesus’ words: “As you have done to the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

America has an extraordinary capacity to reinvent herself, rarely more so than in this election. We remain the screen upon which the world projects its greatest hopes and its most noble aspirations. Live a life worthy of our hopes. Be a reconciler. Be a peacemaker. May God bless you and your family. And may America bless God and the world.

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President Obama: Honor Your Call to the Common Good

by Lynne Hybels, wife of Pastor Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church

While my friend, Christine, sent me iPhone photos of the thousands of ecstatic Chicagoans she partied with last night in Grant Park, I pondered what I would write to you this morning. As a pastor’s wife, a mother, grandmother, and advocate for global engagement, I’ve decided to make a simple request: that you honor your commitment to call the American people to sacrifice and selfless giving for the common good. Last night you called it “a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.” I love that! In churches and faith-based organizations across this country, Christian leaders are calling their congregations and constituencies to do just that.

As I write, Christians across all denominational lines are praying for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan; donating money for refugees in the Eastern Congo and Darfur; restocking food pantries throughout the U.S. and sending food to Zimbabwe and Ethiopia; producing films about the impact of climate change on the world’s poor; sending medical kits to African volunteers who care for people with AIDS; rescuing women and girls from sex trafficking; calling on wealthy Christians to establish emergency funds for Americans who are losing their jobs or homes.

Centrist and progressive Christian leaders believe we have been called to advocate for peace and justice and to protect the vulnerable—from the unborn to senior citizens, from the poor in American cities to the desperately poor in African villages. Even during this financial downturn we are calling our constituencies to give generously of their money and their time. We ask and pray that you will similarly call your constituency—the American people—to wholehearted and personal sacrifice for the good of this country and the world.

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Intellectual Rigor and Vigor

by John DiIulio, Professor at Princeton, former Director of the White House Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Office

Dear President-Elect Obama:

Probably the hardest single thing for any modern president to maintain amidst the daily storms, both real and media-manufactured, that surround and pound the White House is the personal quality that former Secretary of State Colin Powell cited when he endorsed your intellectual rigor and vigor.

Loyal and talented, wise and well-meaning though they may be to an individual, your White House senior staff will, by degrees, and before the “first 100 days” have elapsed, succumb to diverse daily pressures to simplify the complex, ignore inconvenient facts, and, in what they will sincerely believe to be yours and the nation’s best interest, shrug off or silence even the most constructive critics.

Neither the electronic press nor the print media (what’s left of it) will long suffer complex answers to complex questions, not even if delivered by a master rhetorician and great communicator. And your own supporters in Congress will be among your worst enemies when it comes to delays justified only by your determination to deliberate a bit longer (he’s indecisive!), gather more facts and perspectives (he doesn’t truly respect or trust us!), or craft creative alternatives (he’s actually still wet behind those big ears!).

But, come what may, you will be a great president if, and only if, you retain, against odds no less long than those you faced as a candidate, the intellectual rigor and vigor that, more than any other single trait, got you into Oval Office and into the history books forever.

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