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A Response to Uncertainty and Fear in Minnesota and Our Communities

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Dear Synod,

When I was with my mom in Minnesota writing my January column about the gift and need for communal singing and preparing for my trip the Holy Land, I could not have imagined what was about to unfold in Minneapolis and across the state of Minnesota. My heart has broken again and again as I watched videos of the shooting of individuals and violent apprehension of individuals by ICE agents. Our hearts go out to those families and to so many people living with uncertainty and fear in Minnesota and in our own communities.

The church has not been silent, and I point you to the following, if you have not yet seen them:

These messages begin to answer the questions what now? And what is the church’s role? “The Church is a disturbing presence when it refuses to be silent and instead speaks the truth in times when people shout out, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace” from For Peace in God’s World, ELCA Social Statement.  

What does that look like? I know you are already living this out. I want to remind you that you are part of the body of Christ. Further, synod, in Greek, means “walking together.” With those images, we can acknowledge that we can all do something, but that it might look different based on our ministry’s gifts, our context, and our members’ abilities. Each ministry site is also part of a local context with other partners who seek peace, compassion, and are aligned with our “pledge to continue our church’s historic leadership in caring for refugees and immigrants” For Peace in God’s World. No one congregation or person can do it all, but God has equipped us all to do something. Take people groceries, provide shelter, call your elected representatives and leaders, and pray for peace, for victims, for those same elected leaders, for local law enforcement officers, for ICE agents, and for one another.

And hear a thankful bishop remind you how valuable it is to worship together as communities. When you do this, you are a wellspring of God’s love. I think every part of worship is a gift right now. The Confession and Forgiveness reminds me that there is work left undone and that I am still enough. The Kyrie has us cry out to God, “Lord, have mercy” for a world that needs mercy. The hymn writers combine poetry and music and let us express our anguish and our hope, sometimes side by side, in a way few other things can do. The word read and proclaimed convicts us again, but also offers love and mercy. If we are still ready to take up violence in retribution, we feast on Jesus’ own broken body and are reminded that Jesus chose humility and nonviolence rather than intimidation, violence, and fear. And the entire experience of worship reminds me that I am not God, and I do not know all things, even when I think I do. My own self-righteousness is held in check, if only fleetingly. “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:25).

For all that is now and all that lies ahead, we need spaces where we can be nourished for ministry and reminded who we are and whose we are. I’ll echo what I wrote on Facebook Jan. 25, “I am praying for preachers and worship leaders in the Northwest Intermountain Synod and across the church this morning. Jesus’ love is for you too, even as you proclaim it.”

For the Troubles and Sufferings (All Creation Sings 1051) is a Kyrie that originates with the cry of the marginalized from Matthew 20, “Lord, have mercy on us!” It also is rooted in the sense of longing expressed in Romans 8. Portuguese author and composer Rudolfo Gaede Neto wrote regarding the Kyrie as part of a liturgy, “When the Christian community gathers in worship, it does not close the doors behind itself, it does not pray for itself alone, and it does not revolve around itself. On the contrary, the Christian community reserves a special place in worship to cry out to God in favor of the pains of the whole world.” We sing this song not just as a lament, but also as a confession and a prayer for peace. (from Sundays and Seasons online).

https://youtu.be/5deYkwAl_Dw?si=tbm8wnjYfF5sP7Tv

 -Bishop Meggan Manlove