The photo above is of Liam Conejo Ramos, a vulnerable 5 year old child who is now in a Texas concentration camp. The Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik in Minneapolis told reporters last Wednesday that officers told him to knock on the door to his home to see if other people were inside, “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” she said. Conejo means rabbit in Spanish. May this image of Liam and his blue bunny hat standing in the freezing cold make its way into your heart of compassion. In the name of human decency and for the sake of all God's children may we join in peaceful organization to offer the way of peace, love of immigrants and care for all children and the least of these.
Dear Friends of Church for Our Common Home,
This past week, I joined almost 200 clergy from every corner of Oregon— Rabbis and Reverends, Buddhists and Muslims, Monks and Ministers— to respond to escalating ICE activity and violence in the wake of the killing of Renee Nicole Good a mother of three and Alex Jeffrey Pretti an intensive care nurse in Minneapolis, over 30 recent deaths in detention centers and the shooting of two of our neighbors in Portland.
Convened by Together Lab, we learned more about the lay of the land in Oregon, strategies to meet this moment, and sent messages of love and care to our siblings in Minnesota. While each of our congregational contexts are different, it’s clear that we must come together— neighbor to neighbor— to faithfully take action.
Alongside clergy colleagues across the state, we’re expanding the circle and inviting our congregations, key leaders, and friends to join us on Thursday, February 12th from 6-7:15pm on zoom for a multifaith statewide convening for faith communities. I hope you can come.
Please register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/BxsqeHLBSKu5kxxjEpSBFw
Together, we will:
Understand the increased ICE activity in Oregon, including where and how they’re operating
Know where to plug into faithful organizing strategies across the state, including neighborhood-based, legislative, and upcoming mass mobilizations
Take meaningful action while on the call to flex our collective muscles.
The call is being supported by Together Lab, PIRC (who run the statewide hotline you call when you suspect or see ICE), and statewide coalitions Oregon for All and Protect Oregon.
Please join Church for Our Common Home in prayer for those who were murdered in Minnesota and especially the children like 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father taken to an ICE concentration camp in Texas. We stand in solidarity with the courageous leaders like Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney who has been arrested as well as dozens of clergy outside the airport. Our hearts are with all those living in fear.
Church for Our Common Home invites you to join us in action and contemplation. Please contact me with questions and/or come visit our retreat center, Interfaith Secret Prayer Garden, biodynamic farm and counseling center or share this email and invite a friend. We are an untraditional church and we worship with the animals in the barn, (weather permitting) and are teach Christian mysticism. We are dedicated to care for Mother Earth, the Divine Feminine, Loving Community and the Arts.