01/25/2026
A message from Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball:
“When the storms of life are raging, stand by me! When the storms of life are raging, stand by me! When the world is tossing me, like a ship upon the sea, thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me.” (UMC Hymnal 512)
We are in the midst of storms and Jesus is here! Snow and ICE are upon us in a variety of ways, and the presence of storms stir up anxiety, fear, anger, and energy. Violence has once again taken human life. What to do is always the question. How do we prepare for things we expect, but for which we have no idea about how it will all play out? Who can we work with? How do we push aside our assumptions and try to listen for what is needed by the people directly impacted? Various people make predictions and proclamations. There are conflicting “facts” and forecasts. There are safety concerns. There are people in harm’s way – how to protect? – how to come alongside? – how to positively impact? - how to be part of the response, the healing, the hope? – how to be a part of the transformation that is needed in life giving ways? These are all questions we wrestle with individually and as the Church, the collective followers of Jesus Christ.
In response to the ongoing impact of the storms, in response to snow and ICE, the tragic deaths of two people in Minneapolis, and violence against people being visited on others in our communities across the nation, we can choose to be who Jesus called us to be: salt and light! Bishop Plambeck, episcopal leader of the Dakotas and Minnesota Conferences, in response to the shooting of Renee Good, reminded people they could use God’s word and their own experience with snow and ice to respond to what was happening, by recommitting to be salt and light. Salt and light impact the conditions in which we find ourselves. Being salt and light changes things.
We are called to flavor this world and our communities with the saltiness of God’s love and Jesus’ tears and care for those whose lives are lost in fear, violence, hate, and hopelessness. We are called to shine light on oppression, exclusivity, and privilege in ways that begin to melt hostility and model respect and value for all human beings. Light and saltiness are multiplied when we offer hospitality, protect dignity, and forge pathways for justice through ministries of presence and education combined with actions of love and listening.
We are called to become communities in which sanctuary is not just a place for some to gather at various times during a week, but a way of life for all of us together. We are called to be communities who look after the neighbors we know and those we do not, paying attention and responding to the needs of those who are in the midst of life’s storms. We are called to be communities where the wounded and those in pain find healing, hope, and new life. We are called to be communities that treat the stranger as a valued and beloved child of God.
Our congregations are called by Jesus to be salt and light – to melt away the hate, the oppression, the fear, and the violence that is harbored by some, so that the stranger and all those who seek hope and life might become more visible and welcomed. May the healing and restorative powers of our communal and individual saltiness and light offer the mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically wounded people among us an encounter with communities that will help them to heal. Empowered by God’s Spirit, help us to so shine the light of Christ that compassion, love, and restorative, life giving justice become the conversation of our communities and the basis for the actions of our leaders.
Let us pray for the people of Minneapolis, for our immigrant communities and families, for those in law enforcement and their families, for the families of those who have died and continue to die in our communities amid many storms, for law makers and leaders, and for each of our congregations that they might recommit to being salt and light! The more Christ like flavor and the more Christ light we can infuse in our own communities is one real step in transforming the whole. Transformation: it happens one relationship, one person, one community at a time and we can all choose to be a part of it.
