The American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr taught that “nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, he says, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.”

May the Holy One grant us enough hope to sustain us throughout our lives, a faith in the belief that what we do is of consequence and that future generations will one day enjoy the fruits of our labor, and the desire to work with one another to accomplish deeds that will be remembered as virtuous for the citizens of California.

May this be God’s will. AMEN.