Involved in the fray of the world

Another good friend from Minnesota, Anita C. Hill, co-pastor at St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church, also visited my blog and wrote a response. She sent it directly to me and I will now share it with you:

"Blessings on your blogging experiment in public theology. From my theological perspective, our faith compels us into political discourse, and even more so, into political action. Actions that aim to revise policies so that the little ones (the anawim) of our society are lifted up and cared for.

''As an example, advocacy as people of faith in the great health care debate currently underway in the United States requires the input of people of faith. As part of Isaiah, a faith based community organizing institution and part of the Gamaliel Foundation (headquartered in Chicago), 13 members of the congregation I serve traveled to Washington, DC to advocate for health care coverage for everyone in America. Most recently, phone calls and letters have supported public option helth insurance as an option in the steps being taken toward reform.

"Yes, I do believe we can and must bring the best of our faith traditions to bear on the matters that hamper the masses from living the abundant life in the realm of God here and now.

"Might we find the need to revise our approaches, rethink theologically, compromise to get something through our political systems? Yes to all of these.

"Even so, I view political engagement as part of our calling as people of faith. For me as a Christian, how can I claim to follow Jesus without getting involved in the fray of the world and current situations of pain, oppression, racialization of opportunity, and economic inequalities?"