We went to a Church today that we finally found about 3/4 of the way through the worship, but talked with people afterwards, including the pastor, who strikes me as a wonderfully positive, affirming person. They are just getting ready to move into a new building in a couple of weeks, and so this week and next week, they met and will meet in a picnic shelter in a nearby park.

Lots of young people there. Seems lively, and I didn’t get any “bad vibes” at all. I gave the pastor my Blog address, and in so doing, hoping that there will be somebody in the Church who shares just some of these concerns. It doesn’t have to be total; but just include a mix of SOME who would question the almost automatic assumptions of the Religous Right that the Bush administration should be the obvious choice for Christians. If there is not a yearning for a new peace, and a new direction, it seems unlikely that I would be comfortable with that. I’m praying that there is some, at least small segment , who share my concerns. I really hope for it, because there are already lots of young people there, and I want Brian to start ASAP getting to know some local, Christian young people.

I guess the real issue here is whether or not this Church will accept the whole package that I am. To know that I feel so passionately about the political realities today, and have certain viewpoints, and have them precisely because I have passed through the Church communities that I have and read certain theologians that I have, and seen and been struck by the models I’ve seen (like The Church of the Saviour), and to see and welcome that.

I just think that there have to be SOME who recognize the connection between a government’s concern for “the least of these” and their Christian faith, and that there are SOME who are uncomfortable and , nowadays, upset at our country’s RUSH into war. It certainly didn’t happen as last resort, but rather, as an attempt to find and use a “passable” reason to do something they wanted to do BEFORE 9/11. I am concerned, and more than a bit upset, that this doesn’t appear rather obvious, and should be something that MOST Church people would have misgivings about. It certainly seems to be so with the denominational leaders of most of the denominations (aside from the Southern Baptists anyway)