We can commit ourselves without reserve to all the secular work our shared humanity requires of us, knowing that nothing we do in and of itself is good enough to form part of that city’s building, knowing that everything — from our most secret prayers to our most public political acts — is part of that sin–stained human nature that must go down into the valley of death and judgment, and yet knowing that as we offered it up to the Father in the name of Christ and in the power of the Spirit, it is safe with Him and — purged in fire — it will find its place in the holy city at the end.