Countering federal violence with neighborly love

Just two blocks from where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot Renée Good, Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis opened its doors Sunday to give worshippers space to grieve and restore their faith in the face of violence.

Bishop Lanette Plambeck helped with the service, reminding the large, multiethnic congregation that God is near the brokenhearted. The bishop, who leads the Dakotas and Minnesota conferences, also suggested that worshippers’ own experiences might help guide their response to the presence of ICE officers.

“We all know here in the Upper Midwest that the way you care for ice is that you throw a little salt on it. So, I invite you to go into the world and be salt and light,” she said, referencing Christ’s Sermon on the Mount to applause. “I invite you to love and be a good neighbor.”

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