It’s very easy to weaponize faith against a community, pitting one group against another out of fear. But the care and professionalism demonstrated by everyone who entered the polling center that day reminded me of how powerful grace and compassion can be during hard times.

I am thankful for the realization that justice is not divisible; that the greatest social commandment in every major religion is some form of “love your neighbor as yourself.”

A big part of pastoral care is simply showing up, not necessarily with any special expertise or spiritual gravity, but just presence.

Each week in The Christian Citizen, we publish a Religion News Roundup with summaries of religion news stories and links for those who want to read more.

The church’s prophetic witness has never depended on saying what powerful people want to hear. The question that Macklemore’s actions raise for me is whether our own churches would have the courage to speak if the people holding the purse strings demanded our silence.