Every Epiphany, I read to my congregation the story of the magi coming from the East to Jerusalem to find the one born king of the Jews. The story says that when King Herod and all of Jerusalem heard the news of this newly born king they were … troubled. I’ve often wondered what mainline churches could do for today’s officials to be troubled. Those of us in the Twin Cities have just found out: truly love our neighbors.
So many of our churches affirmed our commitment to welcoming the stranger as President Donald Trump’s second administration made deporting them a priority, and we spoke boldly against Operation Metro Surge, the administration’s deadly escalation of its deportation plan here in the Twin Cities. Recent court documents, filed by a defense attorney of one of the 15 members of Direct Action Minnesota charged in June with “conspiring to impede or injure federal officers” during Operation Metro Surge, include internal documents from Homeland Security Investigations. That agency oversaw “Operation Puppet Master” and “Operation Whipple Field,” named for the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the location of the regional office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Those internal documents indicate that agents with the Department of Homeland Security conducted some surveillance activities inside local churches.
University Baptist Church believed itself to be covered by a February federal injunction against DHS conducting activities on its property without a warrant.
One of those churches, University Baptist Church, believed itself to be covered by a February federal injunction against DHS conducting activities on its property without a warrant. The interim pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Roseville recently informed the church’s parishioners that the above-mentioned court records show that an undercover agent attended a meeting of ICE protesters at the church, recorded license plate numbers and then cross-referenced the associated names with social media accounts to create files on the people who had attended.
DHS has responded with boilerplate language when outlets such as Religion News Service have asked for comment: “DHS does not comment on the existence or status of specific on-going investigations, nor on investigative methods.” In an Aug. 23 court filing, according to Baptist News Global, the agency argued that it didn’t violate the injunction at University Baptist Church because its fact-gathering activities didn’t happen during a worship service.
As troubling as it is to learn that the federal government was tracking, documenting and investigating people inside houses of worship, it’s also comical to snoop into the activities of mainline Protestant Churches (American Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Episcopalian, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ and United Methodist). Has no one in the U.S. government read the reports of the precipitous decline of our churches? In 1975, 30% of Americans were mainline Protestants; now we are 8%. (Only 5% of Generation Z and millennials are mainliners.) And yet, we were targeted for surveillance and intimidation.
I keep asking myself what the federal government hoped to discover. I may never know. But here’s what I hope they saw:
At the beginning of Operation Metro Surge, they would have discovered parishioners and clergy shocked by the actions of the government, churches mourning the loss of members and neighbors who either self-deported, were snatched by the government or simply disappeared. They may have noticed that some of these churches were facing financial hardship and declining attendance, and were on the verge of closing.
Then something happened. The more atrocious the federal government’s actions, the louder we expressed our love for our neighbors. I know suburban dads who drove to Texas to pick up their neighbors who had been wrongly detained and drive them back to Minnesota. I laughed with grandmas who referred to themselves as “grantifa.” I was amazed at people who had lived beside each other for years and never talked, but suddenly started greeting one another with “F––– ICE.” The more the federal government tightened the screws on the Twin Cities, the more our hearts expanded.
Despite the terror, horror and intimidation on the streets, as they loved their neighbors with abandon, people inside our churches began feeling hopeful and courageous.
Unbeknownst to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, DHS or ICE, they sparked a revival! Sunday after Sunday, pastors like me focused our sermons on loving our neighbors. As soon as the benediction was offered, parishioners got to work on making that love plain. They chose who would make casseroles, pick up kids, help out with homework, deliver medication and supplies, track ICE activity, deliver warm clothing, pass out hand warmers, check in on neighbors, take up funds for rent assistance, lobby local, state and national politicians, use whatever leverage or pull or access to power they had for the common good.
Despite the terror, horror and intimidation on the streets, as they loved their neighbors with abandon, people inside our churches began feeling hopeful and courageous. As they brought to church their frustration, pain and brokenness, they found their hearts being tenderized, socialized and conscientized. For the first time in my 26 years of pastoral ministry, people saw churches, Mainline Protestant churches, as where the action was. I saw educated, upscale atheists, down-on-their-luck punks, middle-class folks who work in office buildings, college students and retirees come to church and ask how they could help, how they could be a part of this movement of love.
The transformation has continued throughout the Twin Cities. I have yet to find a church that more openly proclaimed love for their neighbor and didn’t experience growth. This spring, Judson Memorial Baptist Church, the congregation I serve, welcomed 19 new members (and we have more signed up for our fall membership class). In the past, we have welcomed three to five new members a year. We are not a big church. Between 80 and 100 of us worship each Sunday. Every new person who has joined (or said they want to join) has said it’s because Judson Church has said in word and deed that the government’s actions are not normal and that something has to be done about it.
I would gladly go back to a time when Renee Good and Alex Pretti were still alive and thousands of my neighbors were still at home living their best lives, but that is not possible. What is possible is a continued commitment to loving our neighbors beyond anything we’ve yet witnessed or experienced. This love has troubled, is troubling and will continue to trouble the current administration. This love can’t be intimidated or turned away. Because this is a love that casts out fear.
The post The Trump administration’s unholy — and un-American — surveillance of Minnesota churches appeared first on MS NOW.
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