Both citizenship and active faith happen in the wounded world

More than a week after primary elections in Missouri, where I live, and in Kansas, to which I can walk in about 15 minutes, I remain appalled that only about 20 percent of registered voters in the Kansas City area voted.

One in five. No wonder our democracy is at risk. No wonder a tiny number of people can make bad decisions for everyone else.

As I fretted about this, I came across this opinion column that gave me a little hope and reminded me that much of the work for the common good happens between elections, not necessarily on election day.

The column was written by the Rev. Natalie Webb, a Baptist pastor in Austin, Texas. She clearly understands that the need to vote doesn't end one's civic duties. "Change-making advocacy," she writes, "extends beyond election years. In my experience, it falls into two distinct but equally important forms: public witness and strategic change."

She describes how active she is in showing up at the offices of lawmakers and at events designed to educate the public about this or that public policy issue. Yes, she votes (unlike a bunch of my neighbors), but she doesn't stop there.

"You can care for your community," she writes, "by showing up and speaking out -- whether at your state capitol, city hall, church prayer group or social media platform. Public witness is not just about getting our people in office, but about sustaining our communities regardless of election outcomes."

It strikes me that if this is true of the body politic -- and it is -- it's also true within faith communities.

Having a perfect attendance record at weekly worship services may be laudable, but what really counts is what you do between services to put into effect the lessons you learn there about how to go about the task of "tikkun olam," a term Jewish people use to mean "repair the world." (And also how you experience God's presence in the world.)

That happens inside congregations, for sure, but it also happens when people of faith work to make sure every person in the community is safe, housed, educated, fed and loved -- and has the opportunity to pursue dreams.

If we never move our religious beliefs outside the sanctuary and into the world, we shortchange the world and pay only lip service to what our religious leaders are trying to teach us.

No one, of course, can do everything that needs to be done to repair the world. We must narrow our choices and place ourselves where we think we can be most effective. But, as Pastor Webb writes, "Knowing the difference between public witness and strategic change can help us figure out how and when to engage for the greatest impact. And that will be different for each of us."

But, for God's sake, other human beings died to protect your right to vote. So at the very least start there.

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RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE SLIPS AWAY

We sometimes hear that someone who has reached a difficult goal has found the "Holy Grail." The term, as this article from The Conversation shows, is full of religious meaning and connections. But as participation in institutional religion declines in the U.S., we have begun to lose a cultural connection to phrases with religious roots, and that impoverishes us in some ways. Lots of us no longer know what a "Holy Grail" is or what it means to "go the second mile" or why living in a place called the Garden of Eden might be wonderful. But I guess that's one of our crosses to bear.

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