I woke up on Tuesday excited for another day in D.C., but nervous because we were actually going to our Congressional offices that day. On Monday we’d received a crash (and I do mean CRASH) course in the three main issues that Sojourners would like to address. That wasn’t too hard to grasp, but the additional info about how the budgeting process actually works was mind-blowing. It’s no wonder that we have so many opportunities to fight about stuff – especially money. It’s a really complicated system! It’s eery to me to think about having created a system that seems too large to change. But as was often stated this week, slavery and segregation seemed unchangeable at one point too …

Anyway, there were about 40 of us from Ohio, and we visited the offices of both Senators Voinovich (R) and Brown (D). And then we split up to visit the Representatives from our individual districts. I have never visited a member of Congress before. In fact, I’ve never written a letter until last month, so I feel like I’ve made huge strides in a very short amount of time.

Obviously, these are very busy folks, and so we didn’t meet personally with either Senator or with my Representative, Mary Jo Kilroy. At each office we met with legislative aides. I admit that I was a little disappointed by that, but from what I understand it would have been much more unusual to have actually met with our elected official in person. The House was actually taking a vote when we went to Congresswoman Kilroy’s office, so she had the best excuse, I think

(By the way, did you know that there are underground tunnels that run from all the Congressional office buildings to the Capitol? I didn’t. How National Treasure is that?! Actually, it’s just quite practical, but I know that if I were a member of Congress I would pretend to be James Bond every time I went down there. I have to admit, I didn’t actually know that not all members of Congress have offices in the Capitol. Some have space there in addition to their main office, but everyone’s main space is in another building. So now I’ve been to D.C. three times and still have never been inside the Capitol.)

Overall, the 1100 attendees of the Mobilization to End Poverty met with 83 Senators and 200 Representatives that day. I feel good about that. It was a good lesson for me because during the Presidential election I was very frustrated because I kept feeling like I couldn’t get close enough to either candidate to know if he was trustworthy. There’s just really no way to know for myself what kind of person someone is when all I get is highly filtered messages. So I’ve long since decided to just put my main focus on local politics. But suddenly there I was on Tuesday standing in my nation’s capitol, meeting with staff from the offices of my Senators and Representatives. I know – it’s not like I met with President Obama. But it did suddenly make national politics seem much more accessible than it ever had before. It was empowering. I think I’ll be making some visits to their district offices too. So Continuum Church folk, I will be asking some of you to come along!

TuesDay2 also included picnic lunching in the park with new friends, a little frisbee throwing in which I injured my thumb because I am not coordinated at all, iced chai at Ebenezer’s, a wander through the Smithsonian American History Museum, some dim sum (ha!), worship lead by Vicky Beeching, and a commute home on the Metro by myself.

I think I could have as easily chronicled this trip by person, not just by day. Maybe I’ll work on that next …

For now, I leave you with verse from Wonderful Cross that I have never heard before. Vicky led this song with a melody unfamiliar to me, and included a verse that everyone else seemed to know, but was powerfully fresh for me:

“Forbid it Lord that I should boast
save in the death of Christ, my God.
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.”