As we enter the final countdown to the election, I am fiercely proud of the spirit abounding in Westerners who have connected faithfully with get-out-the-vote efforts. I’m also tired, looking forward to the end of this drawn-out cycle in the midst of unprecedented anxiety. I know that we need energy for addressing inequities, righting injustices and finding healing together, as communities and as a nation.

“How are we a courageous community living into God’s love and justice?”

This was the question Western’s leaders were asking ourselves last January, before we realized the two pandemics, Covid-19 and racism, would define our year. Before social distance would challenge our life together as a community of faith, yet precisely when we need God’s love and justice!

For Jesus, God’s love and justice weren’t abstract concepts, but embodied realities. The way to embody love and justice is as part of a community who are working on it together, committed to sharing each other’s journeys.