I was in the Crossroads Mall in Saint Cloud on Saturday afternoon. It is one of my favorite places to go when I am up there for other activities, or just passing through on my way back from Clearwater Forest or the northern reaches of our presbytery. I like to stop there and get in some of my walking for the day, shop at JC Penney, or as was my reason on Saturday, to get a haircut at Great Clips - their lines are so much shorter and their staff is much more attentive than here in Willmar.

 

It seemed to be a typical Saturday at Crossroads. There was an abundance of families with kids in tow, high school and college kids more interested in what was on their cell phones than anything else, and many individuals representing the diversity of the Saint Cloud community. The mall was buzzing with positive energy when I left at 4:30 p.m.  Little did anyone know what would take place roughly four hours later.

 

When I first heard the news Saturday evening, my heart sank - and there was that, all too common these days, flood of anger and frustration. Information on Saturday evening was sketchy and guarded. I wondered if any of the folks I had interacted with during the day at the mall, at First Presbyterian Church, or at several other businesses I had been at during the day were involved with the events that had unfolded.

 

In my mind, any attack like this is an act of terror, regardless of its motivation, or who it is that causes it to take place. What happened in Saint Cloud dramatically altered normal routine, and a place that many of considered to be a safe haven will for some time to come take on a different feel. This was an attack on our small city, Midwestern way of life, and it makes all of us a little bit more wary.

 

The attack and the attacker is still being investigated and a good deal is yet to be discovered. We are deeply relieved that it was not worse. Thanks to the heroic efforts of one man who understood the threat and acted decisively to end it, the situation did not escalate. Because the attacker lost his life, unfortunately this means that we may never know exactly what his motivation was and why he did what he did. We will be left to our speculations, and our anxieties, mistrust, and fear of those unlike us will most likely grow. Life in Saint Cloud and central Minnesota will never be the same and the hill we climb to understand and end incidents like this will only get steeper.

 

The fragile relationships that we have with our African immigrant neighbors, be they Muslim or Christian, will take another serious hit. Our Somali neighbors, who are overwhelmingly Muslim, will bear the brunt of a community's anger and frustration, and once again, all Somalis and Muslims will be considered terrorists. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I would imagine that the Somali and Muslim communities are just as distressed over what happened on Saturday evening as many of our European-American neighbors. Taking this one step further, I am fearful that some of our Sudanese immigrant neighbors, a good number of them who are the products of Presbyterian mission activities in Africa, will also catch some of the heat. Angry people do not take the time to make distinction between the different communities. We tend to fear and distrust those unlike us, and that fear and distrust, which is born largely out of a lack of understanding, is greatly heightened by attacks such as the one in Saint Cloud.

 

Jesus commanded his followers to love our neighbors as each one of us loves our self. It was not a suggestion, or simply a good idea. It was a command. As Presbyterian, Christian Americans, we need to take time to learn about those with whom we share this blessed piece of God's creation that we call Minnesota. I encourage you to learn about the Muslim faith - not from the media or political figures on both sides and extremes of our society, but from the people who live it every day. I am not asking that you embrace it or agree with it, but that you understand it, so that you can see what a truly faithful Muslim is trying to do and be.

 

More importantly, I would humbly encourage each one of us to help our Muslim neighbors learn about our Christian faith - not so that they will necessarily come to embrace it, but so that they understand us and our motivations. Help them to see what real Christians can be like. Just like there are those in the Christian and mainstream American communities who believe that all Muslims are terrorists and want to destroy our nation, there are those in the Muslim community who believe that all Christians are terrorists seeking the destruction of their faith and life. The fear and mistrust is present on both sides and we cannot keep living this way.

 

I believe that it is time - long overdue, perhaps -- for us to engage the conversation and seek to build some interfaith bridges, not just because of what happened on Saturday night, but because it is the right thing to do. I strongly encourage the people of this presbytery to come to Redwood Falls on Saturday, October 15 to hear Dr. Sayyeid Syeed, and to engage a panel of Christians and Muslims in a conversation that might just begin to open a door to living and working together across faith traditions. We need to claim Christ's command to love one another, and the first step is to build understanding, trust, and respect.

 

In the meantime, keep the Saint Cloud community in your prayers, along with the Somali, Muslim, and South Sudanese residents all across central Minnesota.

 

See you in Redwood Falls on October 15.

 

Grace and Peace,

Rick