Pastor’s note: Today’s Fear Not comes from Matt Moberg, the chaplain for the Minnesota Timberwolves, the NBA Team in Minneapolis. Dianne J. shared it with me.
I had already seen a rare pre-game press conference about off-court issues from the Timberwolves’ Coach Chris Finch who, voice breaking and eyes welling up, spoke for the team: “For the second time in less than three weeks, we’ve lost a beloved member of our community in the most unimaginable way.” Their game originally scheduled for Saturday evening was delayed until Sunday evening because of Alex Pretti’s murder and its aftermath in Minneapolis.
Chaplain Moberg, trained in the white evangelical traditions of the church, may be an ordained Lutheran minister (but I can’t confirm that). He posted what he wrote (below) on his Instagram, not as an official of the Timberwolves, but as a personal, faith statement. A testimony if you will. And a challenge. He uses his Instagram account for contemporary commentary and to share his art, that he began as a help for recovering from addiction.
If you’re a church posting
prayers for peace and unity today
while my city bleeds in the street,
miss me with the softness
you only wear
when it costs you nothing.
Don’t dress avoidance up as holiness.
Don’t call silence “peacemaking.”
Dont light a candle and think it
substitutes for showing up.
Tonight an ICE agent took a photo of me
next to my car,
looked me in the eye and told me,
“We’ll be seeing you soon.”
Not metaphor.
Not hyperbole.
A threat dressed up in
a badge and a paycheck.
Peace isn’t what you ask for
when the boot is already
on someone’s neck.
Peace is what the powerful ask for
when they don’t want to be interrupted.
Unity isn’t neutral.
Unity that refuses to name violence
is just loyalty to the ones
holding the weapons.
Stop using scripture like chloroform.
Stop calling your fear “wisdom.”
Stop pretending Jesus was crucified
because he preached good vibes
and personal growth.
You don’t get to quote scripture
like a lullaby,
while unjust stays wide awake.
You don’t get to ask God to
“Heal the Land”
if you won’t even look at the wound.
There is a kind of peace
that only exists
because it refuses to tell the truth.
That peace is a lie.
And lies don’t grow
anything worth saving.
The scriptures you love weren’t
written to keep things calm.
They were written to set things right.
And sometimes the most faithful thing
you can do is stop praying
around the pain
and start standing inside it.
If that makes you uncomfortable…
good.
Growth always is.
Thank you for your witness, Chaplain Moberg.
In faith and courage,
Michael
