Devin Strong, Spirit of Peace Lutheran
There is probably nothing that I could write about ICE Agent’s Jonathan Ross’ killing of American Renee Good on January 7th in Minneapolis that will not offend someone, so I should probably avoid the subject all together, except that is a copout.
Besides, my own feelings on the matter are divided, and I need to process them. Certainly, by nature, I lean toward support of regular people, the immigrant, the poor and the powerless over against the rich and the powerful because that’s what I see Jesus doing. On the other hand, tough I worry about rogue cops, I am also pro-police, not least because I have a nephew who is a young cop in suburban Atlanta. Justin is also on the SWAT team, but I honestly worry most about his routine traffic stops. Will he see or miss-see something that causes him to fire his weapon inappropriately in a moment of fear? Conversely, will my nephew react to a real threat a second too late and get shot himself? I pray for him every day.
By now, we have all seen the video clips of Agent Ross’ fatal shots several times, but what we see in these videos depends, to a great extent, on our general political leanings. All I know to do is fall back on the stories of scripture. As Lutherans, we are in the liturgical season of Epiphany, which begins with the Baptism of Jesus. In this account, God the Father rips open the heavens, and the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus in the form of a dove. God says from the clouds, “This is my son, the Beloved.” As a Christian, I believe that the name “Beloved” is given not only to Jesus but to all of us. For me, this means that BOTH Jonathan Ross AND Renee Good are God’s Beloved. BOTH ICE agents and the protesters are God’s Beloved. BOTH Minnesota politicians AND President Trump are God’s Beloved.
It is not for me to say what you should think about this incident or what you should believe about God or anything else, so I simply offer some questions for your consideration: As Christians, are we not called to protest injustice when we see it?
When we protest, shouldn’t we be prepared to be arrested?
Do I have any more right to the blessings of this country than anyone else just because I was born here?
Don't we need a safe and orderly immigration system?
Is it really the fault of the immigrant that our system has been broken for decades?
Is it fair to ask a few states and a handful of cities to bear the brunt of our nationwide immigration problems?
Can't we create a pathway to citizenship for people who are here illegally but have been otherwise law-abiding for years?
What should we do when we can’t let every truly needy immigrant in?
And here's the big one- how are we Christians called to make these intractable problems better?
The German theologian Karl Barth famously said that we Christians must do theology with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Happy theologizing in our very messy world