Praying Liberally Wilmington

Today my pastor chose to speak in honor of Veterans' Day; he attempted to explain the theory of "just war," a prickly topic if ever there was one.

Now, my older son serves in an elite unit, the 82nd Airborne. (He enlisted because, after over 200 resumes in the first George W. recession, the best job he could get was jerking coffee at Borders, and the student loans were breathing down his neck.)

After the sermon, when time came for the Pastoral Prayer and the pastor asked us for "joys and concerns" (it's a Methodist thing), I spoke up.

I don't usually speak up. I don't like having serving persons sing "Happy Birthday" to me in restaurants either.

But I had to speak up.

"The next time my son receives orders to step on an airplane, fly somewhere, and kill people, I want to know he's doing it for the right reasons."

We will be meeting at the Bellefonte Cafe, 804 Brandywine Blvd., Bellefonte, Del.

The election may be over, but the issues are hotter than ever.

I'll be the guy sitting by myself with the fedora on the table. Come keep me company and let's talk about what's happening.

Visit the Chapter website here:

http://livingliberally.org/praying/chapters/de/wilmington

Today, I made the rounds of the local supermarkets to put hangers advertising Thursday's meeting.

Only half of the half-dozen or so stores I visited had community boards. I remember when they were a standard feature at every large food market.

One even had a "no distribution of literature" notice (having suffered through the Hari Krishna years at airports, I can actually understand that impulse).

So I hung notices at several stores and prevailed on some small shopkeepers that I've known for years to do accept some hangers.

One of them told me that, in his capacity of helping the publicize community concerts, he's put flyers up in some locations only to have them taken down because they were not "personal" (that is, they were not advertisements for rooms to rent, landscaping services, "for sale" items, and the like), but rather "community."

We're going to keep organizing, a little bit at a time.

The election may be over, but politics goes on. And, given all the stuff that's happening right now, staying aware and learning about the issues becomes more and more important.