by Shelley Wagener This fall Pastor Robin Lunn, Cheryl Beaver, Susan Smith and I have come together as a Shepherding Team to study, pray and envision how a Justice-Focused Resilience Hub could take shape in our church property. The Hub would be an expansion of the long-standing mission commitments and vision of Salem UCC. This is a natural next step after the congregation-wide meetings and discernment that have taken place over the past several years. We meet twice a month

For two weeks I’ve had our Stewardship theme song in my ear—an earworm of the holiest kind. I wake up with it wafting through my thoughts, a soft thread weaving through other visions I can’t quite remember. It lingers in the background when I catch a news item that feels dystopian: ICE menacing people simply going about their daily lives, families queuing for food as the meager assistance they receive is cut off; neighbors facing health insurance increases that will force the

Over the last four years, I’ve had the privilege of sitting across from many of Salem’s leaders—pastors, organizers, educators, artists, and dreamers—listening as they shared their hopes for this city we all call home. Each conversation has been a window into the deep care and creativity that lives here: dreams of housing and healing, of belonging and justice, of young people flourishing and elders being honored. I have gotten to know Levi Herrera-Lopez , director of Mano A