Even if you usually try to avoid the news, you’re likely aware of the chaos and violence currently plaguing the Twin Cities in Minnesota. There are a lot of Valpo alums in that area, and many of them are posting about their fear and frustration, grief and anger with the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement is conducting raids in their neighborhoods. Two people have been killed, and many others have been detained. At the time of this writing, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
What is one to do?
Early in January, one Valpo alum in Minneapolis posted a portion of the United Methodist baptismal service on social media. It’s from the section of the service titled “Renunciation of Sin and Profession of Faith.” The pastor asks the person being baptized (or confirmed in their baptism):
Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?
And the person about to be baptized responds: “I do.”
I was struck, in the context of the news out of Minnesota, by how “on the nose” this vow appeared to be. Not that I’m surprised that the promises we make in church might have ramifications in daily life.
The vows we make in church are our response to the gifts of divine love and grace. This fact is embedded in the question posed to the candidate, “Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you…?”
But these vows are also typically scripted for us and, as such, are, at least some of the time, just things we say in church because that’s what we say in church.
My alum friend’s post caught my attention and raised the question: how might the (yes, scripted) vows we make in response to God’s love shape how we show up in the world?
I bid you peace, even in this time.
Pr. Jim
Rev. Katherine Museus and Rev. James A. Wetzstein serve as university pastors at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University and take turns writing weekly devotions.
