James Talarico

And so those two commandments, I think, have really guided my life at its best moments.

And it's why I'm in public service.

I was a public school teacher and now a public official.

That's the loving my neighbor.

And it's why I'm a seminary student studying to become a minister one day.

And that's the loving God part.

And both of them

sustain each other, challenge each other, reinforce each other on a daily basis.

You know, part of being a seminary student is studying Hebrew and Greek so you can actually read scripture in its original language.

And one of the mind-blowing things that happened to me my first year of seminary is I was studying this word faith

And many translations, it is belief, you know, the idea of believing in a concept or an idea, which makes sense in English Western translations.

But it can also be translated as trust, which to me is much more experiential.

trusting that love is going to get you through the hour, through the day, through your life, that love is going to carry all of us forward, that love will ultimately prevail even when it's temporarily defeated.

To me, that's what my faith feels like.

It feels like trust.

Almost like I learned how to swim at our neighborhood pool.

And I remember my swim teacher telling me, don't fight the water.

Let the water carry you.

And there's so much temptation in our lives to control our surroundings, control other people.

And I think the opposite of that control is faith, is that kind of trust, letting life, letting the universe hold you up and not fighting it.