Dailykos is a partisan political website dedicated to the advancement of the evolving platform of the Democratic Party of the United States. If Dailykos were a church (Kos, take note) I very well may join, as then it could have ordained members of the clergy who would have some specific legal rights (IE marriages and funerals) that could be useful.
This will not be a wonkish diary- which is the word for an essay in the church of dailykos, but more like a real diary, that happens to be posted so my many friends, whom I only know from such diaries, who can peek over my shoulder and join in a conversation if it resonates with them. I will include hotlinks to various sources without commentary for those interested in exploring such a side trip. (That’s the beauty of the net over print- the reader is in the driver seat)
“Love God Above All Else” were the closing words of the sermon yesterday spoken by the young woman (Rev N.) who is the ordained leader of the Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregation in my upper middle class area in coastal Southern California. Her talk was preceded by a congregant who briefly discussed the origin of Christmas as being that day under the previous calendar when the sun started to rise, the winter solstice, as a moment of celebration of victory of life over death. He also inserted the word Namaste’ the narrowness of my experiences never having exposed me to the depth of the concept rooted in Hindu philosophy .
After the sermon, I reconnected with one of the people who form a discussion group as an alternate activity to attending the services on Sunday. Many people have a social circle where they have heady conversations over dinner that I never really had much of. Most of my casual conversations, including a long term one after our round -robin tennis, with about a half dozen of us, are defined by backgrounds and discussions that are all over the map. With all modesty, I’m usually among the most erudite of such congeries of guys (it’s almost always guys); but the one at the UUs is different. In this group, I may be somewhere in the middle, with many with extensive world travels and doctorates in challenging interesting fields.
With this preface, I write this diary for feedback and discussion on how I handle the words of the title, spoken by the nominal leader (Rev N.) that are deeply antithetical to my convictions, to the degree that I find them too uncomfortable to even tacitly endorse. Her lauding of loving God, brings back my reaction to a simple three word statement by Donald J. Trump at the 2017 annual meeting of the Congressional Prayer Breakfast organization that capped his stated views, “I love God.” If one were to take Rev. N’s words literally, Mr. Trump’s proclamation would be more laudable than my own sentiments, (which is a point I would never make out of the context of a willing conversation,) that the love of God is one of the principles that opens the world to barbarous, potentially catastrophic disaster.
If this diary elicits sincere comments from people for whom this resonates, I will go into more detail and happily participate in the conversations .
