Good Trouble!

“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, say something, do something. Get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble.” These words of Congressman John Lewis echoed through many of the tributes as he was memorialized in July.

His was a call which, I believe, informs the very heart of our ecumenical and interreligious work: the building of the household of God in these divided times. And we may well have to get in trouble to do so.

When we began our newsletter in May, we shared the good news of ecumenical and interreligious collaborations, even as we prayed for the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic and a return to “normal.” By June, with the murder of George Floyd, the stark uncovering of racial and economic disparities in health care, and the ever-deepening knowledge of the connections between slavery, mass incarceration, and police violence against people of color, it was clear that “normal” was not a place for return.

This August’s newsletter recognizes that we are already living in a new reality. And the opportunity to shape that reality among people of faith invites us to get into some “good trouble,” to ask hard questions about what really matters about church unity, about interreligious engagement, about how we work together, how to engage the public square, how we vote, how to recognize white supremacy, climate change and more. This Newsletter seeks to highlight some of the ways religious communities are attempting to do this.