A Beginning

I confess I am not quite sure what I am doing and I'm worrying not a little bit about the inherent narcissism of this kind of endeavor, but I think I needed a new and maybe necessarily public space to throw myself and my thoughts up against for a little while - as a wonderful prayer of Thanksgiving from the Book of Common Prayer reads - "for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory." Of course, I'm taking the phrase shamelessly out of context (something for which I will likely rant and rave about others doing should this take off in any form), but in attempting to commit myself to some kind of Lenten discipline in praying the daily office - okay, at least once a day! - these words continually jump off the page at me and are just beautiful in and of themselves.

Thus, the title of this blog and perhaps the purpose behind it - to sort through my own theological, political, cultural wanderings for the means of finding and holding fast to the grace that I know is always there but so often gets lost in the cacophony and brutality that sometimes is life. We'll see where it goes, especially considering I'm not all that blogically savvy.

There are tons of other voices out there speaking more eloquently, more passionately, more honestly than I can pretend to and there are many of the more progressive political and theological bent already "fighting the good fight" in the endlessly ridiculous culture wars that our country is caught in. There is the drive to define "values" and to lay one's marker down and to go toe to toe in point and counterpoint, which for me at some point becomes pointless. Though I must confess I do participate in this game myself, being my own form of religious politico and like anyone I can get a good rant going - but I made the title of this what I did, to give pause to the drive to be "correct" and try to look from the angle of grace and how to find it in the midst of the debates that are destroying us.

So, a beginning of creating a small space for myself and for anyone else who happens to stumble upon it - and a hope that it might be a means of grace for someone else as well.