God's plan for a hope and a future:
-Seek peace in community
-Pursue the wellbeing of the community
-Pray to God for the community

God's plan of hope and future was, "Many of you will never see your home again." But. The real beauty of "hope and a future" is found in v. 7, which shows what it means to be a neighbor.

Pursuing this admist the tension of the social realities that come with empire, which prioritizes:
-low economic mobility
-perpetual war (because the empire is always under threat)
-loss of civil rights
-assaults against the LGBTQIA+ community

May we create spaces of hope that joins God's mission of redemption, reconicliation, and restoration.

We can’t believe that advertising is called free speech!
We can’t believe that love is called for sale!
We can’t believe that you think there are two political parties!
We can’t believe that you repeat the word ‘democracy’ like it’s liturgical chant from a lost religion!”

- The Reverend Billy Talen

We can’t believe that racism is called crime fighting!
We can’t believe that sweatshops are called efficiency!
We can’t believe that a mall is called the neighborhood!

All deserve dignity.
All deserve decency.

Our rhetoric matter.
Our actions matter.

Christians are called to bear witness to the irreducibility of our neighbor.