Pomp, pageantry and politics go into the mix of the inauguration of any new president of the United States. When Thomas Jefferson was sworn in as our third president, he walked to the Capitol for his swearing-in. He read his speech. Then, he went back to his boarding house. By such simplicity, he sent the message to the young nation that its president should not be seen as a monarch.
Although there are differences that divide one church from another in the United States, every church is facing the same diminishing number of young people in attendance. LifeWay Research reports that, among Protestants, about 70 percent of young adults who had attended church in high school no longer do so. More astonishing is the statistic that 80 percent of young people raised as Catholics stop attending church by the time they turn 23.
Within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, there stands a small shrine called the Aedicule. In its present form, it dates from 1810. It marks the event at the center of the Christian faith. Here Jesus was buried. Here, from this grave in an abandoned limestone quarry, Jesus rose from the dead on Easter. Today, in one day alone, as many as 5,000 pilgrims may be counted visiting this sacred place to pray.
Four months after Julius Caesar was assassinated, his great nephew, the emperor Augustus Caesar, staged games to celebrate the military victories of his uncle. According to the Roman writer Suetonius, just as the games were beginning, a bright comet rose and shone for seven successive days. Historically, it may have been the brightest daylight comet ever seen. Romans interpreted the event as a sign that Julius Caesar had become a god. And, his successor, Augustus Caesar, used this sign in the heavens to legitimize his own political power as absolute ruler.