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We name that as we lead, there are times we have rushed to action before we have time to thoroughly assure we are fully living into our values. Specifically – we seek to ensure people from marginalized communities (black, brown, immigrant, refugee, religious minorities, GLBTQ, ability, gender, economic poverty) are at the center of our relationships and our work. We seek to connect people in multiple congregations and communities to this work.

I believe Dr. King has something to say to us today. His message is as it has always been: a prophetic critique that peels back the inequities and moral vacuity of the current order, an energizing vision that tears us from complacency, and an empowering charge that launches us into the work ahead.

I’ve gotta believe we can and will do this and so much more.  I’ve gotta believe there are more good people in this world than the corrupt.  I’ve gotta believe there is a reason this is happening. And that reason is to awaken the power within, draw us close, to be the righteous change this world needs. I’ve gotta believe good overcomes evil and love trumps hate.

Can you imagine the conversation between Gabriel and Mary: “Mary, sister, you need to buckle in. Things are about to get wild. It’s goin down and you’re at the center of it all. God hasn’t forgotten about you and your people.” Do you remember Mary’s response from Luke’s Gospel: “How can this be?” Perhaps Gabriel simply shrugged his shoulders: “You are God’s daughter and always will be.”

At the end of the day, I want to believe that despite interpretive differences, Christians embrace that scripture reveals truth about God that is timeless and universal. Christians cannot dispute the Greatest Commandment of loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. This is the lens of truth through which all commandments are followed. Divine law and mercy include and direct us toward the value and love of all people.

A Blue Holiday is not a new concept, particularly Blue Christmas. It is a phrase denoting sadness during a time that everyone is or at least expected to be blissfully filled with joy. Typically, it refers to a sadness resulting from some type of loss or loneliness; a sadness that overshadows or eclipse what is normally a time of love, light, and liveliness. However, today, for some, it may also adequately describe a profound lament regarding perceived realities of the human condition.

But then something gave me pause. While it was comforting to know that I did have a failsafe in place, I quickly dismissed the idea and used this pivot in American history as momentum to continue my work through my own non-profit. Meet the Middle East, which aims to foster relationships between the US and the Middle East through education and immersion travel, is more important now than ever before.

Our task, as we go forth in the aftermath of a brutal, ugly, frightening and vastly disappointing election is to speak up and make our voices heard if and when we see injustice and bigotry injected into our daily lives. Our character will be on display as we go forth into this wilderness. Will we be able to  speak truth to power?  Will we be voices of conscience, compassion and consistency, or will we allow the waves of ugliness that this election has unleashed go unchecked?

In this season of demonstrable democracy, we must elect leaders who use their power to lift up the lowest among us, who with their authority seek to be generous and faithful and steadfast.  We must engage in discourse the way Jesus did, surprising one another with our mercy, setting our hearts toward openness rather than judgment.  Using our words to create a culture in which even our enemies have a place at the table.

Knowing that I am standing with thousands of others in this great state who not only share my values but who have, by signing on to the Interfaith Force for Good, committed to acting upon these values strengthens my resolve to live my values in ways great and small.  Borrowing from Mahatma Gandhi, the day after I cast my ballot is the day I resolve anew to “be the change [I] wish to see in the world.”  

As the interview continued Katie summed up her own observations about their relationship. It was summed up so beautifully that I thought the interview could have ended at that point and would have been a wonderful testimony to how we might live out that line in our pledge of allegiance to the flag that says we are, “one nation, under God with liberty and justice for all.”  In so saying we are admitting we are one nation, though many races and cultures and opinions and points of view.

Does the candidate’s attitude toward the poor and marganilized reflect your values? Does the candidate’s concern for the oppressed express your values? Does the candidate’s views around the health of Earth’s climate align with your understanding of our role as stewards of God’s creation? In fact, does one political party’s positions and policies have a tendency to align more closely with your faith-based values?

This hope is not sitting idly by waiting for something to happen, change, or transform. This hope is born out of a determination to make change, speak Truth to power, and to love with unconditional positive regard in order to make it through the suffering. It is born out of struggle to produce endurance to build character to remain steadfast and immovable in hope (Romans 5:3-5).