A Letter From Bishop Laurie Larson Caesar

But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5:24

“The Church is a disturbing presence when it refuses to be silent and instead speaks the truth in times when people shout out, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”

From For Peace in God’s World, ELCA Social Statement

Like so many of you, I watched the videos of the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis with agonizing horror. Our hearts go out to Ms. Good’s family and friends, and to the people of the Twin Cities now living under a pall of rising uncertainty and fear. The very next day we heard of the shooting of two of our neighbors in Portland, Oregon by US Border Patrol agents - two civilians in an automobile, apparently fleeing. The violence continues, seemingly unchecked and escalating. This rising tide of unpredictability and harm has created conditions where immigrants, those accompanying them and federal agents are all at risk.

What deepens my concern is the growing realization that the fear itself is not an unintended consequence but has become a governing tactic cultivated through intimidation, show of force and anonymity. When armed, masked agents operate without clear accountability, fear does more than frighten individuals; it reshapes public life. The social fabric uniting our neighborhoods and communities thins, neighbors grow wary of one another, and trust erodes. When the governing authority projects intimidation and celebrates violence, silence feels safer than speaking out.

We know that thoughtful people—including faithful Christians—can disagree about immigration policy and enforcement. Yet followers of Jesus can all agree on this: fear must never be accepted as a legitimate tool of governance. Human beings must not be reduced to threats to be managed, and authority must be exercised only to protect life and uphold human dignity. We decry all language that dehumanizes immigrants who are beloved children of God and escalates tensions between federal agents and communities.

Matthew’s account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1–11) illustrates this truth with clarity. Jesus enters the city in deliberate contrast to the imperial procession—a grand procession displaying the power of the Roman Empire designed to awe, intimidate, and secure order through violence. Jesus, in contrast, rides a humble donkey, accompanied by peasants. By choosing humility rather than force, Jesus exposes the hollowness of authoritarian power and its enchantment with intimidation and fear.

In this moment, followers of Jesus are called to stand with those living in fear, and to refuse intimidation and violence as ruling principles. We pray for those who grieve and for all communities living under threat of physical harm, and we call upon our elected officials and public servants to seek peace with justice—peace that includes accountability for violence and the consistent protection of human dignity in law enforcement. God calls us to be witnesses to God’s presence, healing and hope. I invite ongoing prayers, vigils and advocacy for peace and justice, and I affirm the ELCA’s “pledge to continue our church’s historic leadership in caring for refugees and immigrants” (For Peace in God’s World).

Christ meets us in our fear not with condemnation, but with grace and mercy. We hear again and again in sacred scripture that fear does not have the final word. Instead, violence and death have been defeated by Christ’s love, life, death and resurrection and we have all been freed— liberated for compassion for every neighbor and for hope for a shared future which roots itself in the kind of justice which “rolls down like waters.”

As we approach the day in which we honor the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., we lift up his challenging reminder that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Beloved in Christ, may we root ourselves in the same Holy Spirit which sustained Jesus on the cross, Martin in his jail cell in Birmingham, and all those whose hearts and minds are joined in prayer and action for a better and beloved world.

In Christ’s holy and life-giving name,

Laurie Larson Caesar

Bishop, Oregon Synod, ELCA

A Letter From Bishop Laurie Larson Caesar