From the Wednesday, June 18, 2025, Redeemer Covenant Resource e-newsletter to the congregation:

When we consider our response to the horrible violence against our representatives on Saturday, our Northwest Conference [of the Evangelical Covenant Church] superintendent, Kara Stromberg, said it well:

The collective shock and heartbrokenness as we mourn the loss of life of Former MN House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as the targeted violence against MN State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, is difficult to put into words. We lament this senseless violence that led to not only loss of life, but the loss of our sense of safety and trust — and a fear that the deepening polarization we see in our nation and our communities is only growing.

We are reminded that as followers of Christ, we do not live with a posture of fear but of prayer and deep trust in the Holy Spirit’s presence. We condemn any act of violence, knowing that fear, intimidation and hostility have no place in our lives as Christ-followers.

Join me in lament as we ask God, in his abundant mercy, to bring comfort to those who mourn. May we be encouraged that the ways of Jesus are not the ways of this world. Let us pray and seek the Lord together, asking God to invite us into deeper discipleship as ones who are grounded in the hope of Christ and can bring this hope to a broken and hurting world.

Pastor Dan Thompson