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Good morning, As the global community reflects on this turbulent year, America finds itself in an all too familiar place - grappling with an impending and necessary reconstruction. We are living on the last gains of our heroes past and fighting at every turn to realize the dream of a "more perfect union," one that lives up to its constitutional values to establish justice, promote the general welfare, and guarantee equal protection under the law. These values are interpretations of the moral mandates we find in ancient texts across history and religions. In the Christian faith tradition, nations are called to prioritize the poor, women, children, workers and immigrants. I do not believe America can be a nation that wields God's words at its discretion but abandons God's deeds in the governance of its people. Today, many are asking the question - Can America be? Amidst the turmoil, the backlash to progress, hatred, and division, can America be what it claims to be? YES, America can and will be if we come together, challenge oppressive systems, lift from the bottom, and do the work God requires of us - Love and Justice. America must be for the sake of the Indigenous people, cast out and currently battling to save their sacred lands. America must be for the sake of enslaved Africans whose descendants remain in a battle for equality. America must be for the sake of the immigrants who are persecuted and whose children labor in this nation for nothing in return. America must be for ALL of us, poor, gay, straight, trans, old, young, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist. America is for us. The abolitionists did not simply argue it was bad economics to enslave people. They said it was a sin before God, and they built a moral movement to overthrow slavery. The labor movements, the women's suffrage, and the civil rights movement did not merely appeal to the left or the right in public life, they claimed a moral common ground that was bigger than partisan difference. They held forth a common future rooted in the best of our religious and Constitutional traditions. And in this critical time, as we face the global pandemic, economic devastation, the climate crisis and unprecedented global migration, we must reclaim faith for the common good. This is the message at the heart of the Bible I preach. My father who was a preacher before me told me there’s no way you can separate Jesus from justice. There are more than 2,000 verses in Scripture about God’s concern for the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed. This moral vision for our common life has inspired every stride forward in American history, from the abolitionist movement to women’s suffrage, the labor and civil rights movements. I believe that if we are to be a nation that lives its values, then we must start by reclaiming the moral narrative.