I couldn't say how many churches and religious groups I've spoken to since I arrived in Tennessee almost 6 months ago now, but it's been a lot. One of the arguments that I continually make is that only God has the moral authority to kill. The death penalty makes us usurpers of God's role as the sole arbiter of life and death*.

(I should make it clear here, in interest of full disclosure, that this is not an argument that I've come up with on my own, the United Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Unitarian Universalist, and any number of other churches have made it previously)

But last night, I had to be reminded of my own message. You see I was scheduled to speak at two churches in Clarksville last night, but during the afternoon I got a call from one informing me that a parishoner and minister from a nearby parish had died and that people would be attending his viewing, so that the talk would have to be rescheduled.

Later in the evening, when I arrived at the second church, I found that the man who had died was a parishoner there, and the vast majority of what would have been my audience was also attending the viewing.

Now I enjoyed the talk, nonetheless. We had a small audience but they were wonderful people who asked insightful questions and it was a pleasure to speak with them, but it's good to remember that, as prepared as we can be, as organized and as well-planned, sometimes things happen and we simply can't do anything about it. When we learn to accept that there are things we can't control, our lives get more pleasant. So I'll talk to fifteen people instead of fifty. There's nothing I can do to change it. Just try to give the best talk that I can, regardless of whom I'm speaking to and. . . of course. . . make sure to follow up so those fifteen people tell their friends that, wow, that little jesuit dude was interesting, we should have him back to speak to the whole church! If we can turn the little setbacks into opportunities, then we can git 'er done.