Interrupting Worship At Cities Church In St. Paul, Minnesota
I suspect you heard the news about protestors interrupting worship at Cities Church because protestors believed that one of their pastors was a leader in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement also known as ICE. If you haven’t heard about it, you can read more of the story here. When I heard about what happened and I saw the wildly different reactions online, it made my heart ache. Once again, I was reminded of our fragmented news and social media algorithm environment where people get drastically different accounts of the same event. This became very apparent after the murder of Charlie Kirk and is happening once again. I urge us to remember social media companies and news companies make money from our attention and they design the algorithm to hold our attention by evoking strong emotional reactions. A situation like this one raises a lot of questions for faithful Christians. I challenge us who identify as Christ followers to think theologically and thoughtfully as we process and respond.
Is it moral and a good witness for a pastor to also serve as an ICE officer? This past week I spent time talking with other clergy about this question. Some believe being an ICE officer is morally neutral, the same as being a firefighter or police officer. Others believe it is morally wrong for someone to be a leader of a group where officers use excessive force and intimidation tactics. How would you answer that question?
Should worship be a sacred place and time? I believe the answer is yes. It is lamentable to see a worship service interrupted. I believe that both, when anti LGBTQ protestors interrupted worship at a United Methodist church in Orlando and I believe that when anti ICE protestors interrupt worship in Minnesota. I also believe ICE waiting in the parking lot at Spanish speaking churches to arrest people is a form of interrupting worship because it prevents people from coming to worship God as the body of Christ. I wonder if the same people who are outraged by the protestors’ interruption of worship were also outraged by the guidance that ICE was authorized to enter churches even when worship is happening. How do you define what is considered as interrupting worship?
Where do we go from here? The short answer to that question is, I don’t know. That said, I want to tell you what I believe to be true. True Christianity calls us to transform our hearts and inspires us to make earth look more like heaven. Within Christianity I see Christians missing the mark in two broad ways. I see conservative leaning Christians who make the work of the gospel only about saving individual souls to the point that they seem to ignore all the suffering that breaks God’s heart in the world around them. I see progressive leaning Christians that seem to be so focused on changing our broken world that they seemingly forsake the responsibility to transform individual hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe God wants to transform every heart and we must participate in that while also caring for the vulnerable and correcting injustice. I believe Christ calls us to be transformed at every level of our lives while being agents of God’s redeeming transformation.
Thanks for engaging in this conversation and thinking theologically together. I try my best to come at these conversations with a posture of humility acknowledging I don’t have all the answers but seeking to find ways to open conversation and encourage everyone to live out their faith in a difficult moment. As always, email me if you want to further the conversation PastorMike@SpringChurch.org. I am so grateful to be a part of a community where we can have sensitive and challenging conversations with a spirit of curiosity and compassion.
