Melissa Etheridge Walks The Talk

Excerpts from Melissa Ethridge's column in the Huffington Post.  This is what The Great Work looks like:

Well, I have to tell you my friends, the universe has a sense of humor and indeed works in mysterious ways. As I was winding down the promotion for my Christmas album I had one more stop last night...We were going to perform...for the Muslim Public Affairs Council... I received a call the day before to inform me of the keynote speaker that night... Pastor Rick Warren. I was stunned. My fight or flight instinct took over, should I cancel? Then a calm voice inside me said, "Are you really about peace or not?"

I told my manager to reach out to Pastor Warren and say "In the spirit of unity I would like to talk to him." ...On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was...He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone... He invited me to his church, I invited him to my home to meet my wife and kids. He told me of his wife's struggle with breast cancer just a year before mine.

When we met later that night, he entered the room with open arms and an open heart. We agreed to build bridges to the future.

Brothers and sisters the choice is ours now. We have the world's attention. We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but before we change minds we must change hearts... I know, call me a dreamer, but I feel a new era is upon us.

I will be attending the inauguration with my family, and with hope in my heart. I know we are headed in the direction of marriage equality and equal protection for all families...

Rick Warren and the Challenge of The Other

I startled myself with my response to the whole Rick Warren invocation business.  Much to my surprise, I didn't mind that he was doing it.  Partly because I trust Obama and I'm interested to watch his decision-making for a while before I start criticizing it.  So, if there's something in the man, Rick Warren, that Obama supports, then I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt.  But also because I don't think that the issue here is really about gay marriage or the separation of Church and State, or any of the other hot buttons being pressed. I think it's even bigger than that.

I think the most revolutionary part of the whole Warren moment is that we have lost the ability to disagree with each other in a civil and respectful manner - much less maintain a sense of The Other's humanity. We don't believe anymore that those with whom we fundamentally disagree are worthy of our respect, much less our ability to empathize with their position.

I think what Obama is trying to do is model something incredibly powerful. He's saying we can rise above identifying with even our most fundamentally held beliefs for the sake of the greater good. We don't have to cast aside our beliefs, but there is a also a common place beyond them, and it's only in working from that place - all of us together - that we're going to be able to successfully address all the gigantic challenges we're facing.

He's provoking us to think in hard, painful, revolutionary and ultimately exciting ways.  The first question for each of us is: Am I up to the task?