Since the summer, I’ve been accompanying immigrants on many Fridays to their initial asylum hearings in New York City, watching as judges decide people’s fates while ICE agents loom over and harass asylum seekers at every turn. That experience has led me to hear the Christmas story with different ears this year – namely, as Good News proclaimed to people living on the edge of an abyss.

The Church living into its call to economic justice can lead the way both by diminishing its own economic power to pay off debts and finance reform, but also to advocate for an end to predatory practices.

As a lay theologian who works at the intersection of money, God, and institutions, I am often asked what is the difference between fundraising, as an element of stewardship, and manipulation.

It is only when our eyes see the fullness of suffering and sin do we see the ways in which God moves on our behalf.