Here's my confession - last Friday my wife and I cut in front of 7,000 expectant voters and Barack Obama fans to get into Eugene, Oregon's MacArthur Court!
We knew it was wrong. We knew it was a sin. But we can't repent. The truth is, if we had to go through it all again, we would. It was worth it...
When we arrived on the University of Oregon Campus at 6:00pm on Friday, there were already over 10,000 people waiting in two endless lines. We parked several miles away and rushed back to the stadium, undaunted (and not knowing whether we'd make it in or not).
As we approached the building, we noticed the line was just beginning to move. "Quick, start walking alongside it," Jen said. Like Eve with the apple... we did, and casually talked to each other, doing our best to appear intent on a purpose, and unaware of our transgression.
Pretty soon we had sneakily been absorbed in the midst of several groups of people who were naturally unaware of who belonged to each other's party. And in 2o minutes we were inside. In fact, after passing through the metal detectors, we were among the first few thousand to enter. We got great seats on the 2nd floor directly opposite Senator Obama's stage.
The evening was electric. Obama is even more captivating in person than on television - his presence is at once commanding and warm. Yes, I have a little man-crush. Few personalities are able to excite the imagination of millions, especially among jaded and overstimulated Generations X and Y!
We felt a little guilty when we later learned that 3,000 individuals weren't able to get inside. Yes, the blood was on our hands - and it smelled like change I could believe in!
On a side note, I was reading Brian McLaren's blog on Sunday. He has several posts about Senator Obama, celebrating his campaign, leadership and vision. In truth, I'm right there with McLaren, but a little part of my gut remains clenched, wondering if we've sold ourselves too easily - so starved for an attractive alternative to the Christian Right.
I can't answer that yet.
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please read more about my thoughts on the evolution of Christianity at www.EmergingChristian.com
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1 comment:
Dude--you crack me up. But you're right--he's even better live than he is digitally.
Now I must off to check out McClaren's blog about him.
By the way, you need a term beyond emerging, beyond emergent--something for people like me, and Helen, who aren't even Christians anymore, but who still find ourselves enormously attracted to the whole emergent thing. Something like
...
emergetic, mabye =)
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