From the OTHER Gene Robinson on health care

Here's the really bad picture I took with my phone camera of my TV at home as President Obama signed into law the health care bill passed on Sunday.


And here are some reflections from the "other" Gene Robinson ... in today's Washington Post [h/t to Kendall over at Titusonenine]

Even when the "fixes" that have to be approved by the Senate are made, the health-care bill will still be something of a mess. But it's a glorious mess, because it enshrines the principle that all Americans have the right to health care -- an extraordinary achievement that will make this a better nation.

It may take years to get the details right. The newly minted reforms are going to need to be reformed or at least fine-tuned, and those will not be easy battles. But the social movements that allowed Obama to become president and Pelosi to become speaker proved that the arc of history bends toward fairness and inclusion.

Needed change must not be thwarted, even if some people find it hard to accept. Obama got it right in his remarks following the vote: "We did not fear our future. We shaped it."

Finally ... as I dash this off between the Noon Eucharist (which just finished) and Tuesday Staff Meetings (about go begin) this prayer -- the collect for Lent 5 that seems particularly apt for all that swirls around us this day ... from the unruly wills of those who attack and vilify to the changes that challenge us all to the call for grace to love mercy and do justice:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.