The gates of history opened wide this week as the nation elected Illinois Senator Barack Obama the first African-American President. Taking a page from history, President-Elect Obama’s campaign was launched, with a call for national unity in the shadow of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois where Abraham Lincoln once addressed a nation divided over the issue of slavery declaring: “A house divided cannot stand”.

In what has been one of the nation’s most remarkable and historic elections ever, and what then Senator Obama termed “an improbable quest”, the turning of a page to a new politic has occurred in America.

Barack Obama moved to the state of Illinois just out of college over twenty years ago accepting a position, sight unseen, as a community organizer working with clergy and lay-people in some of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. It was here that he established his firm roots in the community and eventually became a favorite son as he was elected to the Illinois State Senate and later to the United States Senate.

The race for the White House from the primaries to their conclusion has generated domestic and international interest in U.S. Presidential politics unseen in recent decades. The increased participation in the democratic process is something that should make all of our citizens proud regardless of political affiliation. We congratulate both campaigns for their commitment to service.

I join, as the Bishop of the Chicago Episcopal Area, with the people of Illinois, and the Northern Illinois Conference of The United Methodist Church, in congratulating President Elect Obama.

Recognizing that “God’s world is one world” we pray for the leaders and peoples of all nations, societies, and cultures.