I sat down at my keyboard this morning to do a final edit on my first piece for Brothers and Sisters. I had been a fairly regular lurker here for years, and over a month ago signed up for this Sunday. My motivations were varied, and my trepidations considerable. As a Christian, and a member of the clergy, I certainly have plenty of outlets available to me to express my faith, and find fellowship and even challenging religious discourse. That's not what brought me to DailyKos. Long convinced that the kind of ministry I have done for decades in the inner city was severely impeded by bad public policy, I was drawn here by the stated common goal of "electing more and better Democrats." Over time, finding a strong sense of community in this place, which inexplicably had become for me something of an "online home," well... that was, as they say, gravy.
So, that was what I was going to explore today. The topic was pretty much, "Why am I here." No, not the existential question, but specifically why a guy in a clerical collar who prefers to pray in Latin and doesn't cross his fingers while reciting the Nicene Creed would want to spend so much of his time in a place where dogma is seemingly always a four-letter word, and where much of what I believe at my very core is so frequently and vociferously dismissed and/or demeaned with phrases like "flying spaghetti monster" and "talking to one's imaginary friend."
The draft I was editing remains unpublished. I may pull it out and dust it off another time, or I may ultimately delete it. But in the aftermath of the events in Aurora, Colorado, and our President's call to the nation for prayer and reflection on those events, it seemed both self-indulgent, and frankly a petty waste of your time and this space to dance that close to meta at such a time as this.
The flags in my little town are flying at half staff, as they are across the country. Our communal life as Americans, what our founders described as "domestic tranquility," has once again been shattered by violence. Our President has called it for what it is -- both senseless and, yes, evil. Such tragedies, by their very nature, can try our faith -- whether it is faith in that power which brought all that is into being, faith in humanity, faith in a nation founded on lofty and largely unrealized ideals, faith in progress toward a better future. A young man methodically arming himself to the teeth and extinguishing the lives of innocent strangers does not fit tidily into a world view which includes any combination of the above. It makes hope difficult... and I dare say, all the more essential.
Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meetup for prayer* and community at Daily Kos. We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing is welcome.
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