"Let's listen in now to the Marine Corps Band," the CNN commentator says. The camera pans across the Washington Mall. People, as far as the eye can see, waiting for the historic moment, the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America, the first African American to ever hold this high office.

It's a better country than I thought it was. I honestly wouldn't have thought this possible. I guess I would have agreed with the older generation of African Americans in my neighborhood: This day would never come in our lifetimes-but here it is.

Disciples of Christ General Minister and President (and Sojourners Board member) Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins delivered this sermon, "Harmonies of Liberty," during the National Prayer Service in Washington, D.C.