“There is something powerful (terrible and wonderful) happening in Minneapolis that should not be ignored.”
Emily McGinley, ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and senior pastor of City Church (RCA) in San Francisco, traveled to Minneapolis last week to attend a two-day clergy conference sponsored primarily by MARCH — Multifaith Antiracism, Change and Healing, a local religious advocacy group.
The gathering, planned just a week in advance, was originally expected to draw about 200 clergy. When more than 1,000 signed up, organizers were forced to close registration. Westminster Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of the city, stepped in to host the event.
Clergy from a wide range of faith traditions traveled from across the country to attend. McGinley compared the gathering to a murmuration of starlings — birds that move in formation, somehow coming together in astonishing unity.
Related reading: “A prayer after the killing of Alex Pretti” by Teri McDowell Ott
“We need to build connection, build trust, and be able to rely on one another,” said McGinley. “Throughout, I experienced trust, generosity, and abundance.”
Organizers arranged for clergy to stay in host homes, with people of many faiths opening their doors. McGinley said the hospitality underscored her sense that “we have everything we need to build the world we want.”
“We have everything we need to build the world we want.”
The conference began Thursday at Westminster with breakout sessions on topics such as leading songs at protests and security risk and threat assessment for churches, McGinley said. She participated in a group that was bused to a neighborhood Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) patrol site, where clergy learned about using whistles and filming ICE encounters.
Related reading: “Inside the effort to organize clergy nationwide to resist ICE” by Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service
On Friday, participants gathered for an interfaith service at Temple Israel, where faith leaders — including Mariann Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C. — spoke. McGinley also joined a group that met at All Nations Indian Church to learn more about how Indigenous communities are being targeted during this time.
Later that day, McGinley and other clergy joined tens of thousands of people marching through downtown Minneapolis in temperatures of 20 degrees below zero to protest ICE’s presence in the state. She described the crowd as diverse, well-organized, and peaceful.
Related reading: “Faith leaders call for action after violence in Minneapolis” by Harriet Riley, Outlook Reporting
“The people of Minneapolis were basically saying, ‘We want you to see and learn what we are experiencing,’” McGinley said.
“We can transform the pain we feel into purpose.”
“My biggest takeaway from the conference was that we need to build deep connections across our differences, while recognizing the pain we all feel,” said McGinley.
“We can transform the pain we feel into purpose,” she said.
