Love? Really?

How are you doing? How are the events going on in Minnesota personally affecting you or people that you know? How are you sharing love?

Love? Really?

What’s happening is not just in the cities. It’s right here in Forest Lake and the surrounding area. Restaurants have closed, family members have been detained, and many people are afraid to leave their homes. And yet, for many of us, it’s business as usual or easy to ignore what’s happening.  

Maybe none of this has personally touched your life, and you think it’s overblown.

From my eyewitness viewpoint, I need to convey a few truths that transcend political affiliation or opinions on the legality of immigration status.

Human beings are hurting. Humans are hurting humans. We witness and struggle to know how to respond.  

I had a member of my church say, “I wanna help, but I just don’t know where to start!”

It’s been a spiritual struggle to find the words to preach the last few weeks that give hope and faith in humanity, while speaking the truth and calling us to action.

What resonates with my congregation is the need for affirmation and calmness to respond to what’s happening. People want to live out our faith and the call to love. We love the stranger. We love our neighbor.

We love our enemy. When I say those words, you can hear a pin drop. It’s real. It’s not about giving permission to hate, it’s about how we respond to our perceived enemy.

Rob Bell, a former pastor and author, writes about God’s love. He’s been told that his teachings about love and nonviolence are nice, but that’s not how the real world works. To which Bell responds, “Isn’t the real world ours to create? Don’t we get a say?”

He reminds us that we’re all connected and small movements create massive shifts. The gift is that we have the power to tilt things in new and better ways. Isn’t that what we want? Aren’t we craving a world where we have the power to tilt things in new and better ways?

Never has this call been more apparent than right now. I told my congregation that my sermons are not going to turn into a “bully pulpit” filled with more anger, shame, and vitriol.

Instead, I share God’s word in ways that point to the actual needs of people. When someone is hungry, we feed them. When someone is beaten, we care for them. When someone is afraid to leave their home because of the color of their skin—completely irrelevant to their immigration status—we befriend them and help them.

I’m encouraging the members of my church to make their voices heard through messages of love and compassion. Share messages of scripture. Write cards of care to people who have a partner or a parent that have been taken.

There’s a lot of negative news about Minnesota right now. I had a 4^th grader ask me how we could spread love instead. Our kids are watching. They want us to help and engage. If you can give, please help! 100% of all designated financial gifts will help the Forest Lake community. https://venmo.com/u/FLFL1 with the memo “Community Outreach”. Thank you for loving your neighbor. It matters now more than ever.

Pastor John Klawiter is the senior pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Forest Lake. For more information, email him at