On Sept. 12, an Immigration and Custom Enforcement agent fatally shot a man in Franklin Park after he tried to flee a traffic stop and struck the officer with his vehicle, an ICE representative has stated. Several news sources reported on the incident.

Isaiah 11:6-9

The wolf will live with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;
the calf and the young lion will feed together,
and a little child will lead them.The cow and the bear will graze.
Their young will lie down together,
and a lion will eat straw like an ox.
A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole;
toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den.
They won’t harm or destroy anywhere
on my holy mountain.
The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,
just as the water covers the sea.

Children of the God revealed in Jesus,

I write today in the wake of the violence that took place in Franklin Park today. While details are incomplete, we know that Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts left one man dead and one agent in the hospital. I ask United Methodists that even while the facts of this story are emerging, we begin with scripture and prayer as we grieve and seek to live God’s Shalom in this time.

Let us pray.

O God of all the earth, Lord of borderless love,
we lift to you this prayer of lament and healing.
We lament this incendiary moment.
Our land feels dry and harm seems ready to kindle
and burn at every turn.

Fill us with knowledge of you,
just as the water covers the sea.
We pray for all who grieve anywhere with us this day.
Comfort the victim’s family.

We pray also for those in uniform
who conduct legal law enforcement operations
and those who worry about them and love them,
and we pray for the one recovering, and all who are recovering
from this event today.

We pray for all the healing that is possible in our land.

We all fear; ones being arrested and ones arresting.
We all breathe. We all need you. We know that racism and division is a log in our eyes and in our tensions, but also that the day and the night belong to you,
Author of Creation. We look to you for an extra measure of your love.
Grant us justice with flourishing for all people and all creation.
We earnestly pray for that day when no one shall hurt nor destroy
on your holy mountain.

O God, give our preachers to know your loving gaze as they seek
words for a wordless time. Give the baptized to know
a wise neighborliness for this moment. And bring us to worship, O God,
with full-throated praise for your merciful love.

Comfort, O Comfort your people, O God.
In all things, teach us to pray, saying:

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil,
for thine is the kingdom,
and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.

Know that I am praying for you and with you. Thank you for your faithfulness.

Peace,

Dan Schwerin, Bishop
Northern Illinois-Wisconsin Area
The United Methodist Church