On Mania

This must be how some people feel about the Super Bowl, or New Year’s, or even Christmas. I am experiencing genuine euphoria as I contemplate the coming week. First, our family will be reunited for Rachel’s twenty-fifth birthday; to be followed by what I anticipate will be the most significant observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day since its inception because of the inauguration of Barack Obama the day after. What an absolutely amazing time to be alive! I’ve been fascinated by the concept of Zeitgeist (loosely translated as the spirit of the times) ever since I was introduced to it and feel incredibly fortunate to be an eyewitness to this seachange in American and world history. After eight years of the gory criminality of the Bush Administration, I am filled with enthusiasm that I once truly thought I had lost. Oh, I know. The same Adam Henry’s (see cop jargon) that have been screwing things up for decades are still with us, but I really sense that We the People are waking up to the fact that this is our life, too, and that we don’t have to be subservient to greedy power any longer. I’m feeling so optimistic right now that I’m actually allowing myself to believe that a lot of people are going to let the Christ into their lives instead of manipulating an ideology into their definition of Christianity. I’d still like to be White House chaplain but I can accept how important it is that President-elect Obama demonstrate that he hasn’t lost his mind. According to the Gospel of Mark, the first words of Jesus were his pronoucement of the Reign of God at hand. For centuries we’ve been praying “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” I’m tasting the sweet truth of Heaven on Earth, and I like it!