Friends,

On Sunday, I preached about Jesus's response to John the Baptist being arrested. You can listen to the sermon here.

I'm taking some time for retreat today, and I'm excited to share some reflections from the Rev. Kathy Monson Lutes about last weekend's events. Read on below!

With love,
Susan+



From the Rev. Kathy Monson Lutes

The reality is that we in Minnesota are living under occupation. We have witnessed Immigration and Customs Enforcement removing people from homes, work, and school based on door-knocking in random neighborhoods and swarming schools, health care facilities, Mexican restaurants, child care centers or gas station parking lots all in hopes of finding someone, anyone, to detain. And murdering protectors in the midst of it. Again, this is the reality.

As people of faith, we must step into the breach with faith, love, and most of all hope, to do what the gospel compels us to do - welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, protect those who are at risk. I don’t have to convince any of you of that. Sunday’s (Feb 1) Old Testament reading is from Micah, a passage with which you are so very familiar. “What the Lord really needs of us is to do justice, and to love kindness and mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.” In the midst of the chaos I am observing, I have also witnessed incredible acts of justice, kindness and mercy, walking humbly with God.

Friday morning Susan and I, with a wonderful handful of people from Grace, were at the airport to raise our voices demanding that Delta (and others) stop being complicit in removing people from our state to detention centers God knows where. That action was about disrupting the flow of money and commerce. It was about disrupting the flow of money into for profit detention facilities. We cheered, and we prayed, and sang as 100 of our colleagues were bused off to jail after kneeling in the cold for at least an hour.

Then, with at least 50,000 of our closest friends, many of you among them, we gathered downtown, we watched out for each other, we shared hand and foot warmers, we sang, and were kind to one another as we became Minnesota fierce. Susan and her partner Brian went to US Bank downtown, one of the leading financial institutions in Minnesota, to ask that they lead the way in standing up to injustice.

You have been delivering food from Casa Maria and Minnehaha Food Shelf, you have been bringing food to your neighbors, who are afraid to leave their homes for work and for school. You have been the hands and feet of Jesus in the way of embodied, fierce love.

And then, Saturday, another of our neighbors was killed by ICE. The grief was palpable. And what did we see? You, gathering together in neighborhoods and breweries and being community, increasing the light, rising up, with hope. This occupation is not over, and we will continue to love fiercely, and walk the way of Jesus, together.

Kathy+

[ photo credit ]

Tags: Rev Susan, Rev Kathy, immigration, Mercy, Justice, Humility

Friends,

On Sunday, Huldah preached about John the Baptist's voice in the wilderness. Drawing on indigenous traditions that see John as a trickster figure, representing radical welcome to all. She called us to claim the transformative power of love that John proclaimed -- God's love without hesitation for all people. You can listen to Huldah's sermon here.

Most Sundays, at the beginning of worship, I remind you that gathering for worship gives us more courage to practice the way of Jesus for the rest of the week. This is the moment for that courage, friends. Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and our neighbors are afraid. Immigration raids and deportation are being used to target not criminals but legal residents, undocumented non-criminal taxpaying workers, families, and people who dare to speak out against the current administration. These violations are a challenge to constitutional law, an offense to our national identity, and a spiritual attack on our baptismal promise to honor the dignity of every human being.

Those of us who are not being targeted have a unique power to step in, with God's help, to help be the hands and feet of Christ for our neighbors. As you navigate our city in the coming weeks, please keep your rights as a legal observer in mind, and ask God for the courage to step up when you see injustice. More resources for that courage are below.

With love,
Susan+


Know Your Rights and your Neighbors'

Tags: courage, immigration, neighbors, Rev Susan