I had a new experience Monday, when I participated in the Moral Monday Social Justice Interfaith March and Rally in Raleigh. I have never participated in an event like that before. But, this time, I felt absolutely compelled to be there.

Anyone who knows me knows, by now, how thrilled I am to be back in North Carolina. I call NC “the home of my heart.” I have lived in six states and, by far, most successfully “transplanted” here. Everything about the size, pace, and “feel” of the Triangle area just seems to be the right fit for me.

There is just one BIG disappointment with coming back home; and that is the political landscape to which I have returned. Oh. My. God. What in the world has come over the NC State Legislature? You can read, in the news, the particulars of what they have been up to, so I won’t go through all of it here. Suffice it to say that this legislature has not missed many opportunities to turn back the hands of time in NC and decimate the progressive political advances of the last fifty years or so.

I’m working on the sermon for this Sunday, and I think it’s moving toward reminding us of the importance of being aligned with the will of God. Well, that begs the questions, “How do we do that? How do we align ourselves with God’s will? How do we even know what God’s will is, and whether we are aligned with it?”

Honestly, I don’t always know. I cannot even estimate how many times I have wished that God would reprise some of God’s former methods of communication - a burning bush, a drop-in visit from an angel, a talking donkey - something that would leave me with no questions about what God wants me to do. I assume, of course, that God would protect me from the heart attack that might otherwise be triggered by such a shocking event. So the outcome I envision is that I would have a crystal clear understanding of God’s will for my life and be empowered to confidently get on with it with all doubts, questions, and my fears of error, failure and success permanently banished from my life.

That hasn’t happened, so I continue to struggle - even agonize, sometimes - in my efforts to discern and do God’s will. I can only share my experience; with complete awareness that it may not be the same as another person’s equally valid experience.