The peace that surpasses

At the end of the communion service used by my childhood's church (LCMS), the minister would give a blessing "Now may the peace that surpasses all understanding fill your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, Amen"

I always figured that this meant that being a Christian was to be someone devoted to Peace - that Christianity was grounded in, was supportive of, was working toward, was a means to Peace. As I grew older, I continued to strive for that "Peace that surpasses all understanding" The first indication that it probably wasn't as easy to achieve as my childish self had imagined (just go up to the altar, kneel down, eat a Necco wafer, sip some smelly juice...) was when I first heard of the Kent State massacre. When I heard my own family saying "Well, that should have been done a long time ago! Serves those commie protestors right!"

Got to get down to it, soldiers are cutting us down. Should have been done long ago. But what if you knew her and saw her dead on the ground? How can you run when you know?

How did CSN know what my family was saying? Was this what all the families were saying? What happened to "The peace that surpasses all understanding?" CSN sang, and I realized that the Christians around me weren't all that hip on Peace. In fact, a great many of them were quite firmly in favor of war.

George Bush is planning to veto a bill that would support our troops. He is planning to veto funding them for supplies and necessary equipment. He is not willing to support our troops. And yet, some poor misguided idiot is being flown to Washington, DC on our tax dollars to give his purple heart medal to a man who deliberately avoided combat in Vietnam - and who has managed to murder going on 4000 of our brave soldiers, marines, sailors and national guard, all without getting his hands dirty in the slightest.

I was going to suggest we send GWB what he REALLY deserves - black construction paper hearts that hold messages telling him that THESE are more fitting for the likes of you - and Cheney and Gates - black hearted bastards that you are. (Oh, and Georgie? I DO mean that as an insult to your momma... just sayin') I was going to... but...

I'm tired. I'm tired of war. I'm tired of this government. I'm tired of hearing the Religious Wrong telling me that George Bush is not a representative of the devil incarnate, and that the war is good. I'm tired of waiting for that peace that surpasses all understanding.

I've not blogged about political issues for a while here now, and I'm thinking that I may just stop that all entire for a bit. I'm burned out, folks. I'm tired of investigations that lead to nothing being done (Gonzales....Lynch....Tillman) I'm tired of the Civil War of Words that the Religious Wrong, the Conservative Wingnuts and the Lefty Moonbats are fighting for control of this country. I'm tired of the news, I'm tired of the views, I'm tired of the opinions, I'm tired of environmentalists trying to make me feel guilty for existing and "using resources".

I'm tired. I need some Peace. I'll just settle for the peace that I can understand. The peace of a good night's sleep. The peace of my garden in the sunshine. The peace of the cool night breeze gently swaying the flames on the candles on my end tables. A peace that dwells within my understanding, and fills my heart and my mind.

There will be no more political statements here for a while.

OTOH - I have a new, high efficiency AC unit as of 3:00 pm yesterday. Cost an arm and a leg and several major internal organs. I'll only use it maybe 10 days a year. But the house is un-sellable without it, so it's a good and needed expense. And I'm not going to feel guilty about that either.

635 days