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A Message
of Unity
August 21, 2001
by
Lynne M. Sin
I have a secret to share with all of you.
I haven't attended an organized church service outside of
weddings, funerals and other functions along that line for
almost 5 years now.
WHAT? Little Miss Lynne the self-touting Christian?
Yep, that's the truth. I gave up organized church ages ago.
I didn't feel complete that an hour each week in a church
where people were critical of those outside their own was
made felt. The last church I attended spoke about raising
funds to purchase a vacant lot next to their church. They
were concerned that the "wrong elements" would purchase that
land and cause problems for their community.
The following week I had received a pastor visit. I questioned
why we would be concerned about "wrong elements" owning property
next to the church. His concerns were that drug dealers or
users or gangs would move in next to the church and vandalize
the property. Mind you, I was living in Central Bucks County,
one of the wealthier regions of the US.
I then reminded him that Jesus also associated with the "wrong
elements" and embraced those people and brought many of them
to God. Adulterers, lepers, thieves, tax collectors and other
sorts that were considered outcasts had a major impact on
the life and teachings of Jesus. The pastor didn't have a
response. He thanked me for my time and left. At that point
I became disenchanted about organized religion. What purpose
was it serving sitting in our clean pristine churches once
a week praying to God for the forgiveness of our sins only
to leave and spend the rest of the week living a life like
that one hour in church would somehow justify the sins.
I'm not here to convert a soul. Not to Christianity, Not
to the Democratic Party and not even to the DLC. I'm here
for one thing, to help get elected into office people who
genuinely care about all Americans and will promote the idea
that everyone deserves the opportunity to live the American
Dream. I envision an America where the only talk about discrimination
is what our children learn in history class when they learn
about the "darker times" of American History.
Faith is not what one does an hour each Sunday to "cleanse
their souls". Faith is stronger than a group that gathers
once a week for an hour to forgive themselves of their sins.
Faith is what we do every day, every hour, every minute. Faith
is the actions we do and the words we say. Faith embraces
everyone as is, no questions ask. Faith is the fact that we
can work together to make this world a better place to live.
Faith isn't perfect, because sometimes when times are bad
we have to rely on faith and ourselves that we can pull through
those bad times and be even stronger.
Oh, and Faith isn't a Christian value - it's something we
all have.
I've had some tough times at work recently and a move I made
6 months ago that I sometimes questions if I made the right
choice. It has not been an easy time and sometimes this board
has been my sanctuary. When I read threads where I "perceived"
that DLC, moderates and Christians were being criticized as
the downfall of the Democratic Party, I took that as a personal
attack against myself. There was much anger in the last posts
you've seen these past 48 hours. I'm not asking, but I'm begging
on my knees that we all learn to work together and embrace
each everyone as equals in a war against George Bush and those
cronies all out to destroy our dream of equality. We need
the DLC in our party as much as we need the Greens as our
allies and welcomed friends in the Democratic Party. We may
disagree on the various issues but overall we all seem to
have the same goals - to make our country a better place for
everyone.
This is my testimony to all of you - what can each of you
do to make this country a better place for everyone? What
can we do to help each other?
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