and, at the gathering [maybe not so much the gat.service as the gat.community], we encourage looking inward at what we think and who we are as well as outward on the world around us. it is part of growing. sticking with where we are at isn't always the best option - following God is a very fluid and dynamic journey. things like the next two paragraphs can really make us look at all this - if we are willing not to have a quick reaction but to think about it. sometimes we agree, sometimes we don't.
from darren at longpauses:
"At the risk of sounding like a broken record, let me begin by saying that, within the strange confines of my personal experience, many of the "Regular Joes" who support President Bush and his agenda seem to do so because he is pro-life and because he evidences publicly the recognizable signs of a "committed walk with God." Within this community — this large, evangelical sub-culture — voting Republican is a "moral" act, a single gesture by which evangelicals hope to restore America to its Christian foundations (whatever that means — and, of course, it doesn't mean anything, which is the beauty of empty, historically-blind rhetoric, but that's another rant entirely)."
and if that throws up a flag for "what, that sounds political!" then follow it up with saturday's clip:
"Saturday morning. A couple of days ago, I was writing up some notes to the Beyond Intensive Care Unit explaining what kind of content Beyond magazine looks for. I said that Beyond doesn't care to be too trendy or timely because there is enough of that around. There are many ways to be relevant, so we can step away from the latest and greatest. I also said that we're not political in the classic sense as that usually means timely - discussing who's in the White House at the moment or some such thing.
That got me thinking, "What does it mean to be political?" What's a political blog post for example? Beyond certainly likes to wade into issues of social justice or the environment and these always seem to involve politics...."
go check them both out
