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Good morning. The inauguration this week of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States will be surrounded by an unprecedented security operation in Washington DC and beyond. Yet the scaled back ceremony will as always bring together symbols and language of history, patriotism and civil religion.

The presidential oath of office will be made on a 127 year old family Bible, so large that one has sympathy for Dr Jill Biden who holds it. Prayers are said as part of the ceremony, and the oath of office is often followed by ‘So help me God’.

The paradox of these elements of religion so prominent in a culture that has stressed the separation of church and state could be read as a way of simply keeping influential groups on board, but they do attempt to frame power and authority in a bigger perspective.

The naturalist William Beebe, one of the pioneers of ecology and conservation, told a story about Teddy Roosevelt, who became President 120 years ago. After an evening of conversation about the natural world, they would repeat an informal ceremony many times over the years. They would go outside and find a faint spot of light beyond the lower left hand corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. Then one of them would recite 'That is the Spiral Galaxy of Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies……..It consists of 100 billion suns—each larger than our sun.' Then Roosevelt would grin and say 'Now I think we are small enough. Let's go to bed.’

It is not a bad thing for those who are given the responsibility of authority to exercise it with humility. For some that is a humility encountered in the science of the natural world, in both its awesome beauty and in our vulnerability in the face of its challenges. For others it is a sense that we have a small part in the arc of history. For others it is a sense of life and opportunity as a gift from God. All can lead to what Billy Graham in one inauguration prayer termed a sense of ‘sacred trust’ in the exercise of authority and leadership.

It seems to me that such humility can help a peaceful transition of power, can enable a listening to the other which heals division and is a key feature that energises care for the natural world. It is something in my own life which leads me to say ‘So help me God’.

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