We recorded podcast #33 on an historic day, though we did not know it at the time. We recorded as the events of January 6, 2021 unfolded, having no real idea what was going on at the time nor what they would reveal. Of course we would learn mere hours later, and some quite frightening information has come out since. The events of 1.06.21 created an air thick with tension and fear.

We recorded this podcast on another historic day, Inauguration Day, in which the first female, biracial Vice-President was sworn in. It was subdued, appropriately forthright about the loss we have faced with Covid, about the healing we must participate in as a nation. And it was also hopeful. It’s interesting that these two days in history - one unexpected, one anticipated; one violent, one hopeful - paint a pretty vivid picture of the light and shadow of who we are as a people, as a country.

In this podcast we imagined, in part, what it might look like to begin again and create a new religion from scratch, one based in a common origin story, the golden rule, and non violence. To bring such imagining into being requires a grown up, mature faith and a willingness to address our own shadow. The longer you listen to Bill, the more you will realize “growing up” is a passion of his. As individuals, as a culture, as a world, as a universe…we are unfinished and still becoming. In fact, the inaugural poet, a 22 year old young woman named Amanda Gorman read:

Somehow, we’ve weathered and witnessed
A nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished…
Because being American is more than a pride we inherit
It’s the past we step into and how we repair it…
For there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it,
If only we’re brave enough to be it.

May we be brave enough to imagine a world in which we address the shadows of the past with the bright light of the future. Thanks for listening.