Friends in Christ, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus, our comfort and our salvation.
As I’ve watched the events unfold across the Twin Cities and our state, the killing of Renee Good, and the unaccountable and indiscriminate targeting of immigrant neighbors by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, the story of Jesus visiting the grave of his friend Lazarus has been ringing in my ears (John 11). The cry of Mary and Martha, “Lord if you had been here…” and the deep grief and weeping of Jesus for his friend feels particularly resonant.
I, too, weep for our own cities and communities in the Minneapolis Area Synod and around Minnesota. I weep for Renee Nicole Good and her family, and I weep for all who have been impacted by the chilling actions of ICE in our community — immigrant families fearful and separated and facing impossible decisions, children who have been witness to violence, black and brown neighbors unjustly profiled, congregational leaders and everyday neighbors struggling to respond to an unprecedented crisis.
This past Sunday we celebrated the baptism of Jesus and remembered our own baptismal identity as God’s beloved. With this belovedness, comes inherent dignity, the knowledge that every person bears the image of God, and the power to uplift the common good and love of neighbor. In that spirit, we call for justice and accountability. We call for a thorough and impartial investigation of the shooting death of Renee Good, and we call for ICE to cease their cruel surge and leave our state immediately. We call for our members of Congress to hold the Administration accountable and exercise their oversight powers. We call on our local leaders, at the State and City level, to do everything in their power to protect every Minnesotan from unlawful harassment and targeting by ICE. We make these calls consistent with Scripture, our church’s social teaching, and our Synod’s resolutions.
Amidst this all, I am grateful, proud, and encouraged by the way neighbors across our Synod have shown up for one another through mutual aid, serving as observers on the street, and adding voices to vigils and calls for justice. Thank you. We are showing the world what it looks like to lead with love, to trust that we are better together, and to proclaim our hope for justice. We know that the targeting of our communities will continue and is likely even to intensify. In this moment, we must continue to rely on one another – to stay rooted in the resilience of community, the power of prayer, and the hope of God.
We trust that in Jesus, God comes near to us in our joys and sufferings, in the incarnation we proclaim at Epiphany, and the cross we walk toward in Lent. But death does not have the final word. Our story, rooted in Christ, is a resurrection story. We remember that while Jesus wept for his friend Lazarus, he also called him out of the grave, into resurrection life. Beloved ones, the events of these last weeks are not the end of our story. We stand firm in our faith that justice is stronger than injustice, that community is stronger than division, and that love is stronger than cruelty. We have hope that our weeping will be transformed into resurrection, and that, like those at Lazarus’ graveside, we too will “…see the glory of God.” (John 11:40)
In Christ,
Bishop Jen Nagel