I saw it on a license plate.
In that place where The Green Mountain State or The Sunshine State or the Show Me State would normally be.
In God We Trust.
I walked by wondering what the person or the couple who owned the car meant by having that on license plate. Given my cynicism, I read it as something like let’s return to the days of public prayer in school or if you only believed in God the way I believe in God life would return to normal and things would get back to the way things used to be.

Then, several steps later the question I asked of them was turned back at me.
“What about me?”
Do I believe…can I say In God I Trust?
Caught between my faith and my cautiousness given the way religion has been too often used to exclude rather than include and as a stick to beat others over the head, it took me a few minutes to get to Yes.
In God I trust that the long arc of history does bend in the direction of justice.
In God I trust that all should have enough and all should have a place.
In God I trust that the peacemakers shall be named the Children of God.
In God I trust that the dream is to make the circle bigger and not smaller.
In God I trust that the table should be longer and the walls lower.
In God I trust that loving God and loving neighbors are two ways to say the same thing.
In God I trust that treating others the way I would like to be treated is, in fact, the golden rule.
In God I trust the Fear Not Angels who come today to proclaim Peace on Earth.
In God I trust the promise of Emmanuel. God with us.
In God I trust that the grand dream of God is possible.
In God I trust that you and I are called to be partners with God in making all this and more possible.
In God I trust.

Maybe not what they meant, but….
The third Sunday in Advent.