You are invited to share in the message our Guest Speaker, Misha Sanders, will present this morning.

Meditation, Mindfulness & Mirth  Susan Busker leads 'Mindful Eating'.

You are invited to hear our minister, Allen Harden's message today.

"Many of us have troubles comprehending the current politicalclimate in America, and find no ground for empathy with the many on theopposite political pole. A similar problem bothered the writer Arlie RussellHochschild, who asked why so many people acted and voted in ways that, to her,appeared contrary to their own best interest. Russell, an liberal academic, could see that Tea Party members,

libertarians, and many other conservatives did not view theworld as she did – so she decided to learn what was going on in their heads andhearts.

  She spent five yearsmeeting people in the bayou country of Louisiana, focusing on those who wereaffected by environmental catastrophes caused by industry.  On the whole, the public resisted attempts toregulate or punish polluters. She chose this as a “keyhole” issue for learningabout what drives personal understanding in these communities.  Her work ended just prior to our lastpresidential election, and was described in the book, “Strangers in their OwnLand: Anger and Mourning on the American Right”.

  I will describe herexperiences and examine her finding that a shared “life narrative” informs theworldview and politics of these people. She sees much internal logic and observed truth in this view, andsuggests that we should not succumb to dismissing it as delusional orevil.  At the same time, she realizesthat we on the liberal left have similar, though vastly different, lifenarratives guiding our own worldview and values.  These are issues we all need to contemplateand try to understand.  For some of us,the discomfort of political polarization is as close as our own families."