Thursday, October 02, 2008

Call To Prayer


In a phone conversation a few nights ago, my mother told me that she'd walked out of a church service praying that people would be able to see Barack Obama as they should. It occurred to me that this was about the wisest, most redemptively religious sensibility I'd witnessed during our election season. She wasn't stumping for him. I imagine she'd join me in praying the same thing concerning the way people see John McCain and any political figure over whom people can get--How shall I put it?--demonically worked up. There are people whose pulses will quicken if you mention how nice it is of Jimmy Carter to build houses for the poor, and there are people who will become visibly agitated if you calmly assert that George W. Bush means well and prays sincerely. I usually don't know what to do when meanness or rage gets hold. But I do know to at least try to pray. Maybe prayer is always just a try. Maybe there's a way of talking about these things that's prayerful without being sanctimonious. A way of communicating in something other than conversation-stoppers.
My mother said she was especially moved when she watched Obama exit the stage in Oxford, Mississippi. In my historical deafness, I didn't know what she was talking about. She explained that he would have been rightfully afraid for his life (and the life of his family) if he'd publicly appeared on that stage just a few decades ago. She was right. And she was right to be moved.
My prayer is that we would all be rightly moved. Righteously moved in the direction of the already-yet-still-to-come kingdom for which many Republicans and Democrats pray, never knowing what we're doing exactly. I pray that we would feel some affection--somehow actually like--the people we can't imagine ourselves voting for and the friends, family, and neighbors we suspect--with fear and trembling--will vote for them. Amid the din of hi-tech carnival barkers, loud televised people who claim to be without spin, and gentle mortals like myself who receive their words into their heads like a shot of espresso every few minutes through e-mails, radio broadcasts, and frantic visits to websites, may our hearts remain open to the possibility of being rightly moved.

13 comments:

benjamin said...

thank you david, these are the thoughts i was searching for. they too, came like a shot of espresso.

Smitheys said...

Amen brother Dark

Anonymous said...

well said...um, written, i suppose is more accurate. thanks for that.

Variations On A Theme said...

I have an Obama sign in my front yard. If my neighbor had a sign, it'd read "McCain/Palin." I sort-of wish she'd get a sign, so we could push our signs into the ground right next to each other, and stand behind our respective signs with our arms hugging and faces smiling.

How many times during these campaigns have I thought, "Can't we all just get along?"

Anonymous said...

In that we know more about Bush than just declarations about his sincerity...we compare his actions to his words. And in the glaring contrast between what Bush says and what Bush does, we cringe.

Anonymous said...

P.S. Is the measure of sincerity, the way to determine justification?

DC said...

file this post under crucial

Unknown said...

prayer, trying. Allowing newness to overcome.

Anonymous said...

"when will people start getting together again?" -marvin gaye

mjaneb said...

charlene aka melissa

Anonymous said...

That sign is so disturbing and just the misspelling of the word "Muslim" is a sadly amusing indication of the greater ignorance of the writer.
If Obama wins it will be said that he won despite his race and if he loses it will be said that he lost because of his race.
I don't want him to win but I am dreading the implication of why if he doesn't.

Angela Hart said...

a hearty amen.

"maybe there's a way of talking about these things that's prayerful without being sanctimonious."

an honest word in a sea of posturing. good on ya my friend!

Clint said...

very well said, glad to know i'm not alone. i touched on the matter as well: www.alwahab.blogspot.com