Topic: Positive prayers and posi
The "Change is Coming" house meeting on December 13 went remarkably well. Nine people signed up for it on the campaign website, and four of those actually attended. The four who attended the meeting included two evangelical Christians, one agnostic, and one gay man. We had some brief discussion of our differences, and then discovered that we all shared an interest in spirituality, a belief that the war in Iraq is unwinnable for reasons that are essentially spiritual, and a common interest in homelessness and the needs of the homeless. Because of our common interest in the needs of the homeless, we agreed to arrange a time to go together to volunteer at the Topeka Rescue Mission.
The Rescue Mission volunteer activity, likely to be the first of many, occurred on December 20. It also went very well. The four of us played Santa to customers at the Mission's Chhristmas store gift distribution.
All of this happened in Topeka, Kansas, which many apparently view as the hate capital of the United States, due to a certain vocal band of picketers that originates here. (And they falsely claim the name of Christ in doing so!)
Change isn't a mass movement. As my evangelical brothers and sisters certainly should recognize, lasting change in every case starts with an individual change of heart--what theologians have traditionally called "repentance." It does not start with the state decreeing that everyone shall henceforth be, or act like, Christians. For Christians, starting from our common ground with unbelievers and working together with them to demonstrate our faith is a much better way of bringing about repentance than isolating ourselves from "them" until "they" change on their own and start acting like us (as much of the church has done for years), pointing the finger of hate (like the protesters from Topeka do) or seeking secular laws that will make "them" act like "us" (as the Religious Right has tended to do for the last 30 years).
With the call for house meetings followed by service together, Barack Obama is on to something. I'm glad to be a part of it.
