Inauguration Day and Luke 12:48b

I'm a Republican. I love this party that was founded in Wisconsin and got Abraham Lincoln into the White House. I like Ike. I'm inordinately fond of John Danforth, and I wish I could vote for women like Olympia Snow and Susan Collins like my friend Lisa does. I was even a John McCain supporter from the 2000 campaign until this year's Republican convention. 

Unfortunately there is a lot that I don't like about my party, most of which one can see in the past eight years. And yes, I voted for that asshat. Once. (Sorry, my fellow Americans.) I think that Karl Rove is the devil. I think that Rush Limbaugh does more to promote liberal causes in this country than anyone else. I mean really, whose mind does he think he is going to change? Oh, yeah, and don't even get me started on the most recent vice-Presidential candidate of my party. {shudder}

I'm also a Christian. I try to take the words of Matthew 25: 31-46 very seriously, although I fall short as a matter of course throughout my daily life. My favorite bit of Scripture is this: And from everyone who has been given much shall much be required. It's not even a whole verse, it is just the middle section  of a verse from the parable of the faithful steward, Luke's version. 

I have been given much, I have been blessed in very many ways. I think that my primary role on this Earth is stewardship. Stewardship of this planet, my friends and family, my intelligence and abilities , my worldly goods, my fingers and toes and my relationships (an area where I am specially blessed). 

But back to the inauguration.... This country has been in a horrible place for the past several years, and I can't pinpoint when it started. It somehow became fashionable for politicians to expend their resources not as stewards of this country and its bounty, but as greedy little gremlins acting selfishly. I realize that this is not unique in the course of American history, but dammit, this is my history, those are my taxes and this is my country!

I fervently hope and pray that Barack Obama can bring about change. I want a country where people care about each other more than themselves. I want elected official who understand the concepts of Common Good and Enlightened Self-Interest. I want a country where the Christians are Christians in the sense that they mission on Matthew 25: 31-48 and Luke 12:48b, not on creating a theocracy where people are excluded because they are gay or lesbian, or because they value the availability of health care for women. 

So I'm pretty excited about today. I'm going to go work out in a few minutes, and I've got a trustee's meeting at noon, but I think I'm going to hunker down for most of the rest of the day and watch the government of the greatest nation on Earth peaceably change hands. May God bless us all.