NOVEMBER 2025

“God has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Holy require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” — (Micah 6:8)

Dear UCCMA members,

As I write this column, my congregation is in the middle of a worship series called “Enter the River; Spiritual Practices for Times of Chaos.” This Sunday, our spiritual practice will be learning protest songs for congregation members who want to sing at the No Kings protest coming up (including songs from various religious traditions). Truly, music can be one of those opportunities to bring the Sacred to the streets.

In my first column, I promised to say more about the connection between DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and justice in the prophetic tradition. How can we see DEI through a Biblical lens?

Here are some thoughts drawn from the Saturday sharing I offered in September:

Isaiah (1:17) tells us to “seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.” Justice is thus not just abstract fairness but a specific lifting up of the most devalued and endangered among us. Alleviating their suffering is a higher priority than making the comfortable more comfortable.

While there are still actual orphans and widows among us, we do well to ask who the most devalued and endangered groups are in our country today. When we ask this, we find that “DEI” as a set of institutional and cultural practices is an important way to address historic and current injustices. It offers members of devalued groups access to the opportunities that will allow them to flourish and have good lives. Thus, diversity, equity, and inclusion are ways of prioritizing justice in our time and place – justice for today’s equivalent of the orphan and widow. 

I’ll continue developing these ideas and asking what they have to do with us in my next column, where I will consider the message that is sent (however unintentionally) when people oppose DEI. 

Until then, may you be held in sacred care.

All peace, 

Amanda
Dr. Amanda Udis-Kessler

amanda@amandaudiskessler.com