By Nancy Gibson
National Memorial for Peace and Justice
Last fall, my husband Greg and I set out on a cross-country road trip in our campervan. With the help of ChatGPT, Greg drafted an itinerary. In the fall, we slowly worked our way to San Antonio. We flew home over the holidays, then flew back in January to resume our journey. The second half took us to Key West and up to North Carolina before heading back west. In addition to National Parks and other key points of interest, I wanted to be sure to visit sites related to racial justice and civil rights.
Do you know someone who loves Jesus and our church, is committed to the community, and demonstrates wise leadership and/or compassionate care? Recommend them for leadership! Elders help lead the church and deacons help care for the church. Please take some time to pray about who you want to recommend for these important positions.
You can send in a recommendation until Oct. 19, 2025 via orange slips at the Welcome Desk or by submitting online by clicking here.
On a lovely summer Saturday morning, members of the J&RR team along with some friends and neighbors gathered at the corner of 20th and Madison to experience "Seattle's Infamous Redline" walking tour.
With the app downloaded to our phones and our earbuds in place, we started the tour. We knew we were on the right corner when we found a poem embedded in the sidewalk. As we listened to the narration on our app, our virtual tour guides shared the history of the poem and guided us to our next stop.
When we talk to people about the justice issues on their hearts, one of the most common things that comes up is access to affordable housing. The City of Bellevue is updating its Affordable Housing Strategy over the course of 2025. As part of continuing engagement for the update, the Office of Housing has created three videos that provide an overview of the basics of affordable housing in Bellevue.
In the wake of immigration sweeps in Los Angeles that provoked protests, faith leaders from across Southern California gathered to hold a prayer vigil calling for peace and solidarity with immigrants. Listening in on a prayer from the vigil can help us hear the pain of this community and join with them in calling on God for justice, peace, and healing.
In the Just Neighbors Sermon Series, in addition to learning about redlining, we also learned about racially restrictive covenants that specifically excluded Black people and other racial groups from buying property. In 2023, the Washington State Legislature passed the Covenant Homeownership Act to help people who have been impacted by this discrimination to become homeowners. Since then, more than 400 homebuyers in Washington State have received assistance with down payments. You can read about how this program is healing injustice in this Seattle Times article.
This spring, BelPres has been walking through out "Life Together" document which outlines the principles that guide our life together in Jesus. All of these principles guide the work of the Justice and Racial Reconciliation Team, but we particularly resonate with #10: "We share with God's people in need, pursue justice for the poor, the vulnerable, and the outsider, and stand together against evil systems."
If you missed Anthony Ballard's sermon on this point, you can find it here: The Two Feet of Love. And if you've had trouble finding the Life Together document on the BelPres website, here's a direct link: Life Together.
By Pam Hinrichs
This is the fourth installment in a four-part series examining what the Bible says about justice. In this installment, we'll offer some concluding thoughts on justice. You can find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.
Concluding Thoughts on Justice
Ultimately, doing justice is an act of worship, an offering to God, in the way God wants to be worshiped by us. God declared to his people, "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?" (Isaiah 58:6). This verse is full of doing, an example of the action God commanded us to do in Micah 6:8.
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Latest Blog Posts
- Reflections on My Personal Civil Rights Pilgrimage
- Elder and Deacon Recommendations
- J&RR Field Trip – Walking Seattle’s Infamous Redline
- Affordable Housing Explainer Videos
- Los Angeles Prayer Vigil
- Updates Related to the Just Neighbors Series
- Life Together Sermon Series
- Themes of Justice in the Bible Part 4
- The Intersection of Faith, Racial Justice, and Political Engagement
- Themes of Justice in the Bible Part 3
- Resource from Equal Justice Initiative – Unreliable Verdicts
- Themes of Justice in the Bible Part 2