"What is the most pressing issue that we, as people of faith, should be working on in our community?"

The question was simple to understand but difficult to answer, and that was precisely the point of this congregational listening session.

A community partner had asked our congregation to identify the issues we felt most needed the collective response and advocacy of our county's communities of faith. Our congregation named nine distinct priorities, ranging from affordable housing to health care to advocacy for victims of sexual assault on college campuses to the removal of the Confederate flag from all government property in the county.

All nine were important, deserving substantive and sustained Christian witness. But given limited community and congregational capacities (the limitations of time, if nothing else), we had to prioritize further.

The facilitators invited each of us to vote for our top two issues, and affordable housing and health care emerged as the most pressing challenges for our community.

Yet as soon as the voting process ended, our unease set in.