Rev. Michelle's Message January 29, 2026
- M Price
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
This week our Unity organization finally put out a statement about the recent tragedies and travesties occurring in our nation. To make sure all of you get a chance to see it, I am inserting it here. My comments follow….
Unity stands with every person grieving, hurting, and afraid in Minnesota and beyond after the recent fatal shootings and unrest in Minneapolis — where community members lost their lives in confrontations with federal agents and tensions have shaken hearts and homes.
We affirm with unwavering love that every person — without exception — is a beloved expression of the Divine, deserving of compassion, dignity, safety, and peace.
In these deeply painful moments, we hold before us the spiritual anchors that have guided the Unity movement for more than a century:
the oneness of all humanity
the inherent worth and goodness of every soul
the call to practice nonviolence in thought, word, and action
the vision of healing and wholeness for all people
We recognize the real trauma communities are experiencing. We also acknowledge that systems and structures sometimes act in ways that cause harm.
As a spiritual community, we are called to stand firmly in truth while seeing beyond fear, and to use our voices, prayers, and actions to help call forth a world where compassion, justice and peace prevail.
As a spiritual community, we call for the spiritual leaders in our movement and beyond, the country’s civic leaders and beyond to act in meaningful ways that bring greater unity and harmony to all communities.
If you or your communities are feeling anxious, afraid, or are in need of spiritual support right now, please know:
You are not alone.
Our Anxious and Afraid Resource Page offers grounding tools and encouragement. https://www.unity.org/.../anxious-and-afraid-reclaim-your...
The Silent Unity Prayer Ministry is available 24/7 for confidential prayer support at unity.org/prayer or 816-969-2000.
We hold all individuals, families, and communities — especially those in Minnesota — in loving prayer, trusting that divine wisdom and love are active even during profound challenges. Let us act with clarity, compassion, and a deep awareness of the Divine in every person.
While I am grateful that Unity has finally made a public statement, I would like to have seen stronger language in terms of calling out what is actually happening. I feel this is the time to speak up boldly and name what is occurring without sugar-coating it or using fluffy spiritual language. As far as I’m concerned, it is no longer (nor has it ever really been, for me at least) a partisan issue. The recent events in our country go far beyond partisan politics, and are, in my opinion, much more about our nation’s values, our cherished Constitution, human rights, and human decency.
To simply list spiritual platitudes, calls for “unity,” and appeals to our “oneness” is, in many ways, to stand in great privilege. That privilege may be racial, socioeconomic, class, or legal status. There are many, many folks in our country today who do not have such privilege. They cannot simply stand back and make spiritual statements because it is not safe for them to do so—they are on the ground, in the trenches, being shot at, kneeled on, tear-gassed, arrested, abducted, and imprisoned without due process.
At the risk of making this super-long, I want to offer you a different perspective--a powerful statement from Matt Moberg, the Chaplain of the Minnesota Timberwolves:
“If you’re a church posting
prayers for peace and unity today
while my city bleeds in the street,
miss me with that softness you only wear when it costs you nothing.
Don’t dress avoidance up as holiness.
Don’t call silence “peacemaking.”
Don’t 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 injustice 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.”
Indeed, this statement may make us somewhat uncomfortable because it does not hesitate to name, in no uncertain terms, the injustices that are occurring and the sometimes insufficient ways we respond to them.
In considering these two different perspectives, I simply invite you to keep asking yourself the question: "What is mine to do?" Not all of us are called to be on the front lines or protesting in the streets. We each must decide how we want and are able to respond to these events within our own capabilities, life circumstances, and personal convictions. We can all make a difference.
If you would like to read the public response of another denomination, the United Church of Christ, click here:
Blessings,
Rev. Michelle
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