Doing Justice
Posted on Mar 26, 2025 by Shari Van Baale
I want to share about the Good Faith Network and the impact it has had on my faith journey.
Many of you know, but for those who don’t, the Good Faith Network is in interfaith organization in Johnson County comprised of almost 30 faith communities across three faith traditions — Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. We advocate for justice around the most pressing issues in Johnson County. We identify those issues by hearing your stories at listening sessions each fall, then team members (including many of you) vote on the issues. This past fall at the Community Problems Assembly we added elder care to mental health, homelessness, and affordable housing. I mention all this because the Good Faith Network is us — it’s you and me — and together we lift up issues important to Johnson County residents.
So why did I get involved? For as long as I can recall I have always had a heart for people on the margins, folks without a voice, the vulnerable. We hear about them almost every Sunday, in worship, scripture, and Bible study — they are with us and we are them.
In Walter Brueggemann’s book, Acting in the Wake: Prayers for Justice, he has a chapter called “Surrounded by the Vulnerable” that starts like this:
We know the list well …
Widow, orphan, immigrant, poor!
We know the list in many configurations:
Orphan, poor, widow, immigrant;
Immigrant, widow, poor, orphan;
Poor, orphan, immigrant, widow.
They loom large among us …
We are surrounded by them!
I think about this list often, in all its configurations, and ask, but what can I do? How can I answer the call to do justice?
Like many of you I engage in the mercy work that Salem does — we feed people. We have the Pantry Pack program, we prepare meals for Project 10-20, and previously we served meals at the Gathering Table. These ministries and the many others that we are involved in make a difference in the lives of people in our community.
And yet, there is more. So, I ask myself what can I do? What am I being called to do? How can I make lasting change? As an individual, I don’t know that I can — not by myself.
Alone, probably not much, but when you and I join together — when we work with other faith communities, when we organize as the Good Faith Network and build a voice of over 1,500 people willing to show up on a weeknight to advocate for those on the margins — we change the trajectory of issues that are important to you and me.
When you and I work together, with others, we can build a voice that can make changes. We can influence our leaders and we can impact people in our community.
This gives me hope — this work that we are doing is a way for me a way to live into my faith. So, I hope that when you think about the list — the orphan, widow, poor, immigrant — and ask yourself what you can do. Know that you can make a difference when we add our voices together.
— Renee Loya
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— Chris Wise