In a case that could drastically alter how cities in California and beyond deal with homeless encampments, U.S. Supreme Court justices today weighed whether to allow broader punishment for people camping in public spaces.

“Laws like ours, they really do serve an essential purpose,” said Theane Evangelis, arguing on behalf of the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, which banned encampments. “They protect the health and safety of everyone. It is not safe to live in encampments. It’s unsanitary, we see what’s happening. And there are the harms of the encampments on those in them and outside.”

If the justices side with Grants Pass, they could roll back limits that for years have curtailed cities’ ability to clear encampments and punish campers. Two prior Ninth Circuit appellate rulings determined that penalizing an unhoused person for camping in public, if they have nowhere else to sleep, violates the Constitution’s 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The Supreme Court’s opinion is expected in late June. However the justices come down, it will affect cities throughout the country. But nowhere will it be felt as acutely as in California, where nearly half of the country’s entire unsheltered homeless population lives.

What’s at stake in the Grants Pass case?

The case, Johnson vs. Grants Pass, stems from a 2018 lawsuit challenging ordinances that ban camping even when there are no beds available in a homeless shelter. Because humans need to sleep somewhere, homeless residents of Grants Pass sued, claiming the ordinance criminalizes them for being homeless and violates the 8th Amendment.

“The ordinances by design make it physically impossible for homeless people to live in Grants Pass without facing endless fines and jail time,” said attorney Kelsi Brown Corkran, who argued on behalf of the homeless respondents today.

The lower courts sided with the homeless residents. Now, Grants Pass is asking the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling.

More than three dozen elected officials and organizations — including California Gov. Gavin Newsom — filed briefs weighing in on the case. Cities, law enforcement agencies and Newsom say the prior rulings tie their hands as they try to manage dangerous and unsanitary encampments. Several cities, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Chico and San Rafael, have been hit with court orders stopping or delaying them from clearing encampments.

But advocates for the civil rights of unhoused people worry if the former rulings are overturned, cities will be able to arrest people just for being homeless.

What did the justices say?

At times, the Supreme Court seemed divided along ideological lines, with the liberal justices appearing more sympathetic to the homeless residents’ arguments than their conservative counterparts. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, both appointees of former President Barack Obama, grilled the Grants Pass attorney over her claim that the city’s ordinance does not make it a crime to be homeless.

“Where do we put them if every city, every village, every town lacks compassion and passes a law identical to this?” Sotomayor asked. “Where are they supposed to sleep? Are they supposed to kill themselves not sleeping?”

But even Justice Brett Kavanaugh, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, poked holes in the Grants Pass argument that the city’s camping ban helps get people off the street and into shelter.

“How does it help if there are not enough beds for the number of homeless people in the jurisdiction?” he asked the Grants Pass lawyer.

“This is a difficult policy question,” Evangelis answered, adding that the ordinance encourages people to accept shelter beds when they open up.

After multiple citations under the Grants Pass ordinance, a homeless resident could go to jail. What then? Kavanaugh asked. “You end up in jail for 30 days, and then you get out, I mean, you’re not going to be any better off than you were before in finding a bed,” he said.

Evangelis insisted an arrest often is what pushes people to finally accept help, whether it’s treatment or other services.

The justices homed in on a key question of the case: Because Grants Pass prohibits camping throughout the entire city, does the ordinance criminalize the status of being homeless? Or does the ordinance criminalize the behavior of camping in public?

That’s important because, decades earlier, the Supreme Court found a person cannot be punished for their status, but only for their actions — someone cannot be arrested for being addicted to drugs, for example, but they can be arrested for using drugs.

In addressing the status-versus-action question, the justices ventured down some philosophical rabbit holes. The conservative justices scrutinized the rationale used in the prior rulings.

“Is being a bank robber a status?” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., an appointee of former President George Bush, asked. And: If someone is hungry and needs food to survive, can they be punished for breaking into a store?

A woman listens to audio from the U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in a lawsuit against the Oregon city of Grants Pass, in Los Angeles on April 22, 2024. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters

If someone has no access to a bathroom, can they be punished for urinating or defecating in the street? Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, asked. Where do we draw the line? She wanted to know.

Supporters of the homeless plaintiffs in Grants Pass say this isn’t a liberal-versus-conservative issue.

“We can’t predict what the court is going to do, but every single time the court has heard this question, they’ve agreed that punishing people for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go is cruel and unusual,” Jesse Rabinowitz, communications director for the National Homelessness Law Center, said during a media call that included a lawyer representing the homeless respondents. “So we remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will do the right thing and agree with all the lower courts’ decisions and affirm that everybody, regardless of housing status, is protected by the constitution.”

Lawyers for Grants Pass did not respond to emails seeking comment.

People rally at the courthouse

As the justices considered the case today, hundreds of people rallied in front of the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. to speak out against criminalizing homelessness. People also gathered in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Ann Olivia, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, attended the D.C. rally and said it was heartening to see so many people supporting the rights of unhoused people.

But, she said, “whatever happens in this case isn’t going to create more affordable housing and services for people.”

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

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Press release from the Office of Rep. Jared Huffman:

Today, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02) shared the news that the Elk River Estuary has been selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to receive $6 million in federal funding for a large-scale habitat restoration project. This funding was made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Rep. Huffman helped pass.

“Our coasts are getting battered by climate change – and that has serious consequences for ecosystems, wildlife, and the communities that rely on healthy coastal habitats,” said Rep. Huffman. “This forward-looking project on the Elk River will upgrade vital infrastructure to increase resilience to sea level rise and protect habitat for the region’s iconic salmon. Projects like this are exactly what I had in mind while shaping Democrats’ historic legislation to invest in America and our future; and I’m glad I could help bring this funding home.”

“We’re deeply grateful to NOAA’s Coastal Zone Management program for their generous support, particularly as state funding diminishes. This award marks a pivotal moment in our mission to protect and recover wild fish and their habitats,” said Darren Mierau, North Coast Regional Director, CalTrout. “This award will allow us to transition from our engineering design phase with funding from the State Coastal Conservancy to implementing crucial coastal resilience projects on the Elk River. Through infrastructure upgrades, we will protect agricultural lands, restore vital habitats for native salmon, and enhance resilience against sea-level rise along Humboldt Bay’s shoreline. Together, we’re building a future where rivers thrive, and coastal communities prosper.”

The Elk River Estuary Restoration Project is the initial implementation step of a decades-long, community-based program to resolve legacy sediment and water quality impairment issues from excessive timber harvest, while also providing regional resilience to sea level rise and large episodic storm events. The project is intended to improve hydrologic and sediment processes, water quality conditions, and aquatic and riparian habitat functions in Elk River, ultimately reducing nuisance flooding in rural residential properties and agricultural land in this economically disadvantaged community.

This project is a part of a nationwide $123 million tranche of funding across state and territorial coastal management programs and national estuarine research reserves.

“These transformational projects will not only bolster community resilience, but also ensure that innovations are fairly and broadly accessible,” said Jainey K. Bavishi, assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy NOAA administrator. “This significant increase in resources from NOAA will be essential in helping to build local infrastructure that is climate resilient, while providing essential benefits to businesses.”

These investments will complement and leverage other opportunities for habitat conservation and restoration, including funding through NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program and the National Oceans and Coastal Security Fund. The restoration and conservation of ecologically significant ecosystems, such as wetlands, corals and natural shoreline, will help reduce the impacts of coastal hazards — including flooding and climate change — to property and infrastructure, and at the same time provide economic benefits to coastal communities.

Visit NOAA’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act websites to learn about current and future funding opportunities.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On 4/12/2024, at about 4:00 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the report of missing person in the Southern Humboldt County area. The missing person was identified as 65-year-old Terry McInnes of Piercy. It was learned that McInnes was last seen by friends and neighbors on or around March 24^th, 2024. The reporting party was concerned based on the lack of contact with McInnes due to it being out of character. As McInnes is a resident of Mendocino County, a missing person report was taken and the information was forwarded to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

On 04/17/2024, at about 8:00 a.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office was contacted and informed that McInnes’ vehicle had been located unoccupied in the East Branch of the South Fork of the Eel River just north of the Humboldt/Mendocino county line. Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the area and conducted a search, with assistance from a California Highway Patrol helicopter, in an effort to locate McInnes. This search continued the following day with deputies being assisted by members of the Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue team. Preliminary information suggests that McInnes may have attempted to ford a section of private roadway that crosses the river in that area during periods of significantly increased water flow at the end of March, resulting in the vehicle being swept downstream. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has been working with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and is continuing to conduct search efforts in the area.

Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to call the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 463-4411 (M.C.S.O. Case # 2024-7377), the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

The winners of CalMatters’ second annual Earth Day op-ed contest are in, spotlighting the ways in which climate solutions play an important role in this year’s election.

More than 70 high school students across California entered this year’s contest, calling on candidates seeking office to back a variety of policies. Entries were rich in research, tracking oil industry contributions, evaluating carbon trading prices and forest restoration, proposing binational projects and more. Some entries called for boosting and tidying public transit systems to appeal to more Californians.

“There is constant talk of climate solutions in California, but rarely do we hear from the folks that will be most affected by today’s decisions – good or bad,” says California Voices editor Yousef Baig. “This contest is a chance to give them a platform and recognize gifted young writers across our state.”

The first place winner earned $500 with another $500 for their school’s journalism program. Second and third place finishers earned $300. All students with leading entries were able to participate in direct coaching sessions with Baig.Some teachers used the contest as a classroom activity.

“We saw young people engaging in journalism for their first time and pitching solutions to publications,” says Youth Journalism Initiative manager Michael Lozano. “It’s fulfilling to be a conduit for the next generation, to remind them that their unique experiences and perspectives matter.”

Let’s take a look at this year’s winners:

First Place, Emma Kavcioglu

The children affected by Aliso Canyon’s historic gas leak are voting age. They want California to ban fracking

Kavcioglu is a junior at Granada Hills Charter High School, and she serves as the opinion editor for her school newspaper, the Plaid Press.

What inspired your writing?

I decided to enter the contest after my journalism teacher told me about the contest and recommended that I enter. I work as the opinion editor on my school paper, so I was really excited to get to work on my Op-Ed for the CalMatters competition. My family and I were personally relocated due to a gas leak when I was 8 years old, and the feelings and memories of that experience became the inspiration for the piece.

What is it like being a finalist?

I felt honored to be considered as a finalist in the contest. Getting such a high level of commendation from CalMatters really stands as evidence of how much I have grown and learned in my high school journalism endeavors. I felt very proud to be recognized for my writing, and working with the CalMatters Team throughout the editing process has given me a valuable new perspective on how major publications function, setting me up for success in the workplace.

Second Place, Sophia Bella

California has to rid itself of a ‘no’ mentality to change its relationship with cars

Sophia Bella is a junior at Burlingame High School and managing editor of The Burlingame B.

What inspired your writing?

Every day on my way to school, I pass the steel poles of our local Caltrain electrification project, which was scheduled to be operational by 2022. Now, two years past its deadline, the project is still incomplete. In my high school newsroom, the “train story idea” has turned into a running joke, as it has been repeatedly pitched over the past three years without any local signs of progress. For decades, officials have promised transformative infrastructure projects that repeatedly fail or are delayed in execution. Frustrated with this pattern, I viewed this contest as a perfect opportunity to merge my passions for journalism and environmentalism, and to discuss this pervasive issue on a larger platform.

What is it like being a finalist?

I think it shows that writing about issues you care about can go a long way, and participating in advocacy for change is accessible to everyone.

Third Place, Reid Heavner

McDonald’s ice cream machines are so unreliable they’re a meme. They might also be a climate solution

Reid Heavner is a freshman in Santa Rosa and staff writer for his high school newspaper.

What inspired your writing?

Originally, I entered the contest because of my school’s journalism program. I would never have known that I could even enter without my school’s program. As I worked on my submission, it started to become more than just the assignment that it started out as. There was definitely a moment where I looked at what I had just written and realized that it was actually pretty decent. I never thought that it would get selected, but I was proud of what I had written. At that point, it was sort of a fun thing, where I was just interested to see where it would go and how it would turn out. I was inspired in large part by my mother. She works as a policy writer at the Frontier Group, in which she confronts similar issues to those discussed in our articles. She helped me to pick my topic and worked with me to revise what I had written. My article definitely wouldn’t’ve turned out as well as it did without her.

What is it like being a finalist?

Being a finalist was an amazing surprise for me. I remember seeing the email telling me that my article had been selected and being in disbelief for a moment. It was an especially amazing moment because I was at a journalism convention when I found out. That weekend was already an exposure to big-time journalism outside of just my school, and hearing that I would be published in CalMatters added a level of validation to that where I felt part of the journalism community.

Honorable Mentions

Other honorable student work is rounded up in a central commentary piece.

California youth spotlight election-year priorities on climate

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Vivien Richards, Ph.D.
January 18, 1935 - April 14, 2024

Vivien Richards, a renowned neuropsychologist, passed away peacefully on April 14, 2024. Born in Ohio to Bessie Balik and Emil Uher, she was predeceased by her three husbands: Morris Cordova, Joseph P. Day Sr., and Richard P. Borough. Her sister, Betty Tost, passed away before her.

Vivien’s intellectual curiosity led her on a remarkable academic and professional journey. After graduating from the University of Miami with a bachelor’s degree in physics, she later pursued a master’s degree in psychology at the University of San Jose. Her passion for understanding the human brain then brought her to Stanford University, where she earned a Ph.D. in neuropsychology.

Vivien worked in aerospace engineering at Eglin Air Force Base, was at the forefront of programming in its early days at Stanford, and contributed to database development at Oracle. She worked at the Stanford Research Institute, TRW, and United Technologies. In mid-life, she studied Oriental Medicine and became certified in acupuncture and herbal medicine. She worked with her husband Richard to build MasterMind, a small business growth consultancy. Finally, she was an accomplished author, writing three books.

Vivien Richards is survived by her children: Steven Cordova (son from her first marriage), Joseph P. Day, Jr. (son from her second marriage), and Virginia Ekelund (daughter from her second marriage). She also leaves behind a loving legacy for her three grandsons Orion, Draco, and Khiron (from Joseph P. Day Jr.), a granddaughter Alyssa (from Virginia Ekelund), and one great-granddaughter Aurora (from Orion Day). In addition to her human family, Vivien leaves behind her beloved Siamese cat, Devi.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Vivien Richards’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

A plaque on a wall of Spain’s Alhambra Palace celebrates the American writer Washington Irving (1783 –1859), who wrote his best seller Tales of the Alhambra there in 1829. Construction of the palace-fortress, located in Granada in the heart of Andalusia, Spain, was begun nearly 800 years ago. It’s the finest example of Islamic architecture that I’ve seen, well worth a day trip from Madrid in the north or Malaga in the south. Go early! When I visited in 1983, I was one of only a dozen tourists, but I hear it’s now crowded, especially at weekends.

I’d barely heard of Washington Irving back then, not having been raised in the U.S., where I understand such classics as Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are essential reading for young people. My first real encounter with Irving was when I was researching the myth that Christopher Columbus was warned that the world was flat and he might sail off the edge of the world. The first record I ever owned (remember 78s?!), a present from my sister in 1951 (I was nine), cemented the facts in my mind. Guy Mitchell sang:

Queen Isabella she gave heed
Said go buy the ships you need.
Take my jewels but travel slow
‘Cos you might fall down to the world below.

I blame Washington Irving. Before his stay at the Alhambra, he lived in Madrid, where he wrote A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, published in January 1828. According to Wikipedia, it went through 175 editions before the end of the century. In it, Irving spins the yarn that scholars believed in a flat Earth in the medieval world of Columbus’ time, and that we should thank the Genoese navigator (who was actually a conquistador, in the worst sense of the word, once he reached the Americas) for proving that the world was round.

Daguerreotype of Washington Irving (John Plumbe, public domain)

Not only was the shape of the Earth well known to the ancient Greeks nearly two thousand years before Columbus “sailed the ocean blue,” but they even knew the approximate size of it — to a better approximation than that assumed by Columbus, who confused the units used by the Greeks. Around 200 BC, the head of the Library of Alexandria, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, estimated Earth’s circumference to within a few percent of the actual value. (Probably — historians are unsure about the modern equivalent of his unit of length, the stadion.) He did this by famously measuring the difference in angles of shadows cast by vertical rods in Alexandria and Syene (modern Aswan), knowing the distance between them.

So yeah, Columbus knew the Earth was round, even if he did underestimate its circumference (by a whopping 33 percent — hence “Indians”). And Washington Irving knew that he knew, but he was a writer, a teller of tales. Someone who practically invented the genre we now call “historical fiction.”

“In God We Trust”

In greed we trust.

In power we trust.

In politics we trust.

But God? Not so much.

I am desperate for a shift in the religious winds. I was recently asked why I think so many people have left the Church in America. “Oh my friend,” I said, “the list is like a Venn Diagram with circles overlapping and connecting. It’s hard to say what is the catalyst.”

Maybe sex abuse scandals from Church leaders. Maybe Evangelicals gleefully supporting a master manipulator for president. Maybe the pandemic took Church away and replaced it with hobbies and laundry. Maybe people can’t stomach another sermon about hell when it feels like their life is hell. Maybe the obsession with women’s bodies and the shame culture that cycles through. Maybe the “love” they have for LGBTQ folx that feels a lot more like rejection. Maybe the quest for Christian nationalism in a country founded on religious freedom that feels more like controlling shackles. 

I am desperate for a shift in the religious winds—a Holy Spirit groaning wind of peace—and I believe it’s possible.

Late Church historian, Phyllis Tickle, wrote about some markers in Church history. About every 500 years the Church holds a “great rummage sale” of all the extra accumulated junk to figure out what needs to stay and go in regards to doctrines, traditions, rituals, and practices. Decades of theological disagreements might pass, causing instability in systems and institutions until the last straw occurs and leaders become pressed to determine the future of the Church. In painful and sometimes violent outcomes, the Church splits, relationships severe, hearts break, and ways of religious practice die. 

But God tends to move through dead things to bring about life. And life can’t occur without death.

(A word about “rummage sale;” I can see how limiting this phrase is. Rummage sales are meant to sell off what is no longer wanted, however a lot of what needs to go, REALLY shouldn’t be given anywhere else. Maybe dumpster fire is a better term, but for consistency, we’ll stay with “rummage sale.”)

A first rummage sale came around 500 years after the birth of the Church and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Obviously the birth of Jesus was a significant historical shift, and about 500 years before that was another significant historical shift with the last prophetic writing—Malachi). During this time, the Roman Empire was being dismantled. Christianity had become an accepted religion without much pastoral oversight or doctrine, so defining what it meant to be a Christian and follow Jesus had to happen.  

Phyllis Tickle wrote in her book, The Great Emergence, that “During the long decline of it’s civil governance, the population of Rome was increasingly composed of illiterate barbarians who had grown weary of raiding the Eternal City and decided instead to take up residency and stay awhile. Because Christianity was the religion of the Empire, many, many of these new raiders-turned-citizens adopted it; but they also and inevitably adapted it as well.” 

Around 500 years after that, in 1054, was the Great Schism. In the most simplistic terms, after years of arguing and debating over some beliefs like whether communion bread should or shouldn’t have yeast in it as well as questioning if the Pope had ultimate authority over the Western and Eastern Church, they went their separate ways. The Western Roman Catholic Church insisted on unleavened bread and Papal authority while the Eastern Church broke away and continued as the Greek/Eastern Orthodox Church with a different structure. 

500 years after that another rummage sale broke out with the Great Reformation. German Catholic monk, Martin Luther (along with others), began deeply questioning some of the Roman Catholic Church’s practices, like indulgences, where Christians could pay the Church money for alleviation and forgiveness of sins or a deceased loved one moving from Purgatory to heaven. Because most people were illiterate and couldn’t study scripture for themselves, they believed what the Church decreed was what God decreed. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther wrote out 95 things needing to go in the Roman Catholic Church and implored people to strip everything extra away to simply focus on Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, and Sola Fide — Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone.

In the biblical book of Acts, we find this early church community. They met in the Temple courts. They met in each other’s homes. They broke bread and shared meals together and listened to teachings on scripture and prayed together. They made sure everyone had enough and there was equality and equity among them. Maybe this is idealistic today, but it sure sounds nice (although reading into Acts we find squabbles and arguments existed then). But, how did we get so far from this early example? Going from this early church, simple and inclusive, to an Empirical Church, to a split and another split and now thousands of Christian denominations splitting and starting and arguing and dying. 

The printing press had recently been invented before Luther broke away. People began having access to Bibles written in their own languages. These variables, plus a rise in literacy, created more Protestant denominations out different interpretations 

In the 500 years since the Reformation, the Church (Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant…) has picked up some good stuff along the way. But some of what we’ve collected is embarrassing. 

Colonialism. Indigenous boarding schools. Slavery. Purity culture. Patriarchy. Christian Nationalism. 

I believe it’s time for another rummage sale! (Or dumpster fire!)

Statements of Belief pages on church websites or denominational Books of Disciplines are long and thick, making sure to list out every little thing so no one gets God wrong. We fight about what we think it means that “God so loves the world” instead of simply believing that God so loves the world! We are more focused on upholding what we believe is “correct theology” than we are at loving people.

I believe we are on the precipice of new movements of Love but we live in a fearful world. Church leaders worry about the amount of people leaving and in a post-pandemic world, so many people never came back. We don’t know what the future of the Church looks like with more churches closing than opening. Fear-based questions make Christians either give up or get aggressive: What if our generation is the last Christian generation and this ends with us? What does this mean for our children and grandchildren? What are we leaving behind for them? Dilapidated buildings and some religious trauma?

I think there’s a lot of good old religion in the way of new Holy Spirit movements.

So I wonder, what needs to go in the rummage sale to create spaces for the Holy Spirit to breathe into our lives, to hover over our humanly hopelessness, to direct the way forward in greater love with awe and curiosity? What needs to be removed, stripped away, and what needs to stay? You might say, “Burn it all down.” And I get that sentiment of wanting to see it all go into the proverbial dumpster fire. But I ask you, have you sat in Mass lately or prayed the Lord’s Prayer alongside others? Have you engaged with your precious soul, recognizing your and your neighbor’s beloved worth? Have you been challenged to love your enemy and forgive others as you have been forgiven? 

I don’t believe the answer is to burn it all down, but I do believe when the church bravely sifts through all the old good and helpful stuff, is honest about what’s no longer helpful or even good, and humbly releases it, what we’re left with is Jesus and I believe there’s nothing better in the whole world than him. The constant throughout each of these profound historical movements is Jesus. So my friends, if your faith feels strained, if hope feels bleak, if it’s hard to be faithful along the way, know that God is faithful to you. God will make a way forward and it’s probably not the way we would have imagined, but there’s nothing to fear. 

May we let go of the religious vice grip.

In God we trust.

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Bethany Cseh is a pastor at Arcata United Methodist Church and Catalyst Church.