Thoughts, Prayers & Art

Originally published: June 8, 2025

Beloved in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from the One who was crucified by Empire, yet rose to reveal that Love will not be buried.

I write to you today not from a place of ease, but from a place of holy discomfort, a place where lament and resistance meet.

This week, we have witnessed scenes out of California that have shaken our spirits and pierced the conscience of any heart still open to the suffering of others. Men and women, immigrants, parents, neighbors were met not with compassion or dignity, but with chemical agents and pepper bullets. Entire communities have been thrown into fear as ICE agents, outfitted like soldiers, charged not toward justice, but toward intimidation.

This is not the dream of America.
This is not the command of Christ.
This is not the work of the Spirit.

When government agents, empowered by policy, funded by taxes, and shielded by silence turn weapons on those they are meant to serve, we must name it plainly: this is violence instigated by the State. And where the State becomes violent, the Church must become vocal.

We are not called to neutrality in the face of injustice. Neutrality in the face of suffering is complicity. Silence, even when prayerful, becomes a shield for the powerful unless paired with action.

Let us remember the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees.” (Isaiah 10:1)

And the words of Jesus himself:
“Whatever you did to the least of these… you did to me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Let there be no doubt, Jesus stands with the detained, the deported, the mothers hiding in fear and the children sobbing behind chain-link fences. Jesus is there in the sting of the tear gas, in the silence of those who have lost their loved ones without warning.
And if Jesus is there, so must we be.

What can we do?
 • We can pray—but our prayers must lead to action.
Let your prayers fuel phone calls, letters, protest, and prophetic presence.
 • We can preach the Gospel, but let it be the Gospel that unsettles injustice.
Not a Gospel of quiet comfort, but of holy troublemaking in the name of love.
 • We can accompany the vulnerable.
Open the doors of our churches and our hearts to immigrant families. Walk with them. Speak for them when their voices are silenced.
 • We can refuse to look away.
Evil thrives in the shadows. Keep your eyes open and your heart tender.

Beloved, we live in a time where the powers of Empire and White Supremacy are testing the soul of our Nation. But take heart. We are not powerless.

We have the truth.
We have the Spirit.
We have each other.

So let us rise, not in hatred or revenge, but in fierce and unwavering love. Let us be the Body of Christ, broken-hearted, yes, but never broken.

And let us say together, in faith and in courage:
“Not in our name. Not in God’s name. Never again.”

With you in lament, in resistance, and in hope,
I remain your sister and servant in Christ+