Weekend Stresses—Religious and Social

This weekend had turned out unusually stressful for me.  I’ve been given a lot to think about.       What seemed like an innocent Facebook post by a friend of mine about the demise of the Hostess Twinkie led quickly into the politics of government bailouts and from there into wild denunciations of liberals, followed by denunciations of the denunciations.  The workweek had ended with union discussions at work about corporate budget and possible layoffs.   I didn’t need the Twinkie Debacle on top of that.

Saturday involved, in addition to the Twinkie Affair, several hours of driving about and walking about looking for ideal sites for English Morris dancing (my wife leads a team):  Libraries, downtowns, parks…  Back home, just as I was aching for a nap, it turned out that we needed to head for a fundraising dinner.  After the dinner I facilitated the South Bay Poly meeting (which was really good, actually—nine people and a good discussion) followed by Family Game Night (the “Game of Life,” which I hadn’t played for years).

Which calmed me down heading into Sunday’s events:  A Baptism for the baby son of a friend of mine.  That’s fine—except that I’m Unitarian Universalist and the Episcopal service, complete with the Nicene creed, brought up a lot of emotional baggage.  For starters, how to respect my hosts while respecting my own beliefs at the same time?  I joined in some of the ritual lines, but not the Credo and not the Lord’s Prayer.  However, I did participate in the Eucharist, which triggered an additional set of anxieties.  At a Catholic Mass, I wouldn’t have done it, but the Episcopalians made a point of saying that everyone was welcome to participate.  I still hesitated; I spent a few years engaged to a Catholic, back in my twenties, and that training told me I would not be welcome if I were not “of the faith.”  I kept thinking of T.S. Eliot, one of my favorite poets, who had converted to Anglicanism (ie. Episcopalian) back around 1927.  I hesitated again—what would my Jewish friends there do??  I’d show solidarity with them, either way!  Then I thought, No, the Episcopalians said everyone was welcome….  So I went up.  

Then what to do about (what I believe the Catholics call) the Kiss of Peace?  I actually thought the service was over, but it was just people walking about, giving one another the greeting of peace.

Afterwards, I went to my girlfriend’s and watched the film George Wallace, with Gary Sinese as the former Alabama governor.  This was right after someone on Facebook brought up the Tulsa race riots of 1921 and the Emmett Till murder of 1955, so I was in a rare mood when we started the movie.  A good film, though I could quibble with some aspects of the script.  Then I went home and did the grocery shopping and the laundry.

The end result of this weekend has been, I think, a lot of feelings coming up for me.  I suspect I have a lot of poetry to write this week to deal with all this.  We’ll see.