Obama Team Picks First Woman to Deliver National Prayer Service Sermon

The sermon will be 10 to 15 minutes and won't be picked over by the Obama team, according to the story. The sermon will happen Jan. 21 at the Washington National Cathedral.

Denver Post: President-elect Barack Obama has selected the Rev. Sharon E. Watkins to deliver the sermon at the national prayer service that is held the day after the inauguration.
Watkins, the first woman ever selected to lead the service, is the president and general minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a small, liberal-leaning Protestant denomination with 3,754 congregations and about 690,000 members in the United States and Canada. When Watkins was elected to the post in 2005, she was the first woman ever chosen to lead a mainline Protestant denomination.
But Watkins is not well known nationally. She came to the attention of Obama at a meeting he held during the campaign last summer to introduce himself to a politically and theologically diverse group of ministers. At that closed-door meeting, some of the conservative ministers bluntly questioned Obama on certain issues, while others were more in tune with his views. Watkins was asked to give the closing prayer.

Watkins wasn't chosen to neutralize Rick Warren:

Linda Douglass, the chief spokeswoman for the inaugural committee, said the choice of Watkins was not an attempt to mollify critics of Obama's decision to have the Rev. Rick Warren give the invocation at the inauguration. The choice of Warren, a prominent evangelical pastor from California who opposes same-sex marriage, caused an uproar among some of Obama's supporters.
"She was chosen before the inaugural program was even announced," Douglass said of Watkins. "Her appeal is that she delivers a message of unity and inclusivity and tolerance and hope — and those are all central themes we've heard from the president-elect." Watkins has spoken out against torture and the war in Iraq, but as church president she has not taken a position on same-sex marriage. Like many mainline Protestant churches, the Disciples are not unified on the issue. As a congregational church, each church in the denomination is free to set its own policies.

Also happening at the Cathedral:

On January 19, Washington National Cathedral and young people throughout the area will honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while considering the future of the country under the leadership of President-elect Barack Obama.
Local poet, performer and educator Bomani Armah will lead the multi-sensory, musical and energized celebration along with young people as they create their own messages to the new president.
The young and talented violinist Daniel Davis will perform. His performances at Obama presidential rallies are favorites on YouTube.
All youth in attendance can create their own letters to President-elect Obama.
In this, the forty-first anniversary of Dr. King’s untimely death, the public is welcome to join the festivities at the site of King’s last Sunday sermon.
The 2-4 pm event is free and open to the public.

Here is Daniel Davis performing at an Obama rally:

For more inauguration events and information, visit here.