Hello, Bridgetown Church, and those of you joining us online, my name is Bethany Allen,

and this is the Bridgetown Daily, 4th Thursday, January 14th.

Last week, this time, most of us were reeling, really an unbelief about the events that took

place at the Capitol on Wednesday.

And even after a week, my mind is filled with file images of rioting and looting in the

chaos that filled the streets of what once was one of the most secure places in our nation.

It's a weird thing when our security gets disrupted, when our sense of safety, as we saw it

last week, is distorted.

It does something to us, procuring new levels of vulnerability and even fear.

I was talking to a friend this past weekend and noting that when I got the call about

the events happening at the Capitol, it felt all too familiar.

I remember being in 10th grade and feeling the same sense of disruption and uneasiness

and fear when I heard that two planes had flown into the World Trade Center in New York.

It was unthinkable.

My first response to the events last week was honestly disbelief, a luxury many of us

living on the other side of the nation had.

I was stunned at the individuals and the system, blown away by the level of chaos I was seeing

and fearful because of what felt unpredictable and unprotectable, especially by those who

were supposed to keep us safe.

Now, unfortunately, this is not and was not a new sensation or experience for the majority

of us.

If you're anything like me, you recognize this sense of fragility, the ways in which

...