I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
(John 13:34-35, NRSV)

 

Siblings in Christ,

 

Many of you have watched the news over the past week regarding false statements about the immigrant community in Springfield, OH, specifically our Haitian neighbors. The events that have followed are a continuation of a quickening trend toward division and violence throughout our world.

 

I have been in contact with city officials in Springfield, as well as our congregations and their leadership. They are grateful for the prayers for them and their community from across the Southern Ohio Synod, the ELCA, nationally, and globally.

 

This past Friday, our Synod posted a prayer on our social media accounts. We invite you to share that on your personal pages and your congregation’s pages. For those not on social media, the text of the prayer is below:

 

God of peace,
In a world so wired and interconnected,
our anxious hearts are pummeled by an endless barrage of troubling news (bomb threats, hate speech, divisions among community members).
We are daily aware of more grief, O Lord, than we can rightly consider,
of more hostility, hatred, horror, and injustice.
But you are not disquieted by news of cruelty.
You are neither anxious nor overwhelmed.
You carried the full weight of the suffering of the world all the way to the cross.
You carry it, still.
When the cacophony unsettles us, remind us that you are present with us.
Justice and mercy, healing and redemption are the work you are doing in the world.
Guard us from shutting down our empathy or walling off our hearts.
Move each of us to respond with compassion, to be extensions of your presence that is already there.Give us wisdom in the face of troubling news reports.
Give us discernment to know when to act, when to speak out, when to place our anxiety at your feet, and when to pray that your kingdom of peace be present within our world.
Amen.
Adapted from “A Liturgy for Those Flooded by Too Much Information,” Every Moment Holy, vol. 1, ©2017.

 

What else can we do? How is God calling us to respond?

1. Pastors, Deacons, Synod Authorized Ministers (SAMs), Lay Worship Leaders (LWLs), and Congregational Leaders: This is the time to remind us of the words of Jesus and of Martin Luther, through conversations, teaching, and preaching.
   
   Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSV)
   When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’Small Catechism
   5th Commandment: You shall not kill.
   What does this mean?
   We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all life’s needs.
2. All of us can speak up to advocate for truth, to put an end to false statements and dispel rumors that dehumanize our neighbors. How we engage with one another online is another way we live with, love, care for, and serve our neighbors.
3. Continue to pray.

   God of peace, continue to accompany our siblings in the Springfield area and its leadership, for our congregations and ministries within the Springfield area, for schools, hospitals, first responders, Wittenberg University, and the immigrant community, especially the Haitian community. Bring an end to violence and rumors that are swirling. May the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding become a reality within this city. All this we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

In Christ, the source of our peace and our hope,

Bishop Suzanne Darcy Dillahunt