|
In the context of the Trump administration’s attack on civil society, the domestic terrorism of ICE activities, and family detentions in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, Bishop Mariann Budde offered the following reflections on Martin Luther King Day:
“It is both sobering and deeply moving to honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King this year, when the seemingly unrestrained power of the federal government is in the hands of those whose vision of America is antithetical to nearly everything King stood for.
We are living through yet another fierce backlash against the efforts to reckon with the embedded racism and economic inequities in our country, including the erasure of our history and the dismantling of institutions that protect our democracy, care for our people, and sustain the planet upon which all life depends.
Yet we are not without resources. King would be the first to remind us not to give up on one another; that truth pressed to earth will rise again, that no lie can live forever, and that God has a way of wringing good out of evil.
On the eve of his assassination, King preached his last sermon in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had gone to march in solidarity with striking sanitation workers.
One memorable portion of the sermon was his retelling the story of the Good Samaritan: He reminded his listeners that two religious leaders saw a man mortally wounded and chose to pass him by. Only a man of a despised race, the Samaritan, stopped to help. That man illustrated what King called a “dangerous unselfishness,” which is the essence of love.
The first question the Levite and the priest asked when they saw the wounded man was ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ The Good Samaritan reversed the question. ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’... That is the question before you tonight. Not, ‘If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to me?’ But ‘If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?’ That’s the question.
That is our question now. Not what will happen to us if we step up in a time when violence is state-sanctioned. But what will happen to those in the greatest danger if we do not step up, show up, speak up? What will happen if we don’t do everything we can to protect what we can and never give up hope?
For all that King endured, he never lost hope. In the midst of circumstances that we would never have chosen but find ourselves in, with God as our strength, it is our turn to do the same.”
Episcopal clergy and laity around the country are stepping up, showing up, and speaking up in order to support and protect those in the greatest danger.
- In Stanton Virginia, the Rev. Cara Ellen Modisett, associate rector at Trinity Episcopal Church, said she has felt called to public witness, including protests, because of her belief that the church should be “a welcoming and peaceful and loving presence.”
- Tammy Pallot, a lay leader in the Diocese of Atlanta, regularly serves as a chaplain at public events in her northern Georgia diocese. She identifies herself as a protest chaplain by wearing a clearly labeled yellow vest to the events she attends.
-
North Dakota clergy and laity (including Episcopalians) are joining with clergy and laity in Minnesota to send letters to the Target Corporation in Minneapolis asking that, among other things, its stores publicly post signage denying entrance to immigration agents without signed judicial warrants, and that it publicly calls for an immediate end to the ICE “surge” into MN (if you would like to see and sign the letter, contact Amy Phillips at kaphillip@gmail.com). Clergy and laity in North Dakota are also joining together to help support and protect their neighbors, and to protest the brutal actions of ICE.
The Episcopal Church offers a number of resources for churches and individuals who feel called to demand accountability and to stand in solidarity with vulnerable people:
The Episcopal Church also offers the opportunity to collectively participate in “Public Witness Weekly Prayers.” The prayer below was from January 16:
God of abundant life, who judges injustice, hears the cry of the oppressed, and calls your people to bear witness to your life-giving righteousness, we pray for all who have died because of our present immigration system. We pray for the victims of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's violence on the streets of American cities. We pray, too, for those who have died trying to find a path to a better life for themselves and their loved ones. Send your Spirit upon all those who grieve and sit in fear, and grant governing authorities the wisdom to safeguard due process, fairness, and human dignity. Grant this, Lord, for the sake of Jesus Christ, your only Son. Amen.
[“All People Are Sacred” Image from the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity]
| 
