ICE
Praying for ICE Aggressors
Praying for those who are the aggressors in the current immigration focused violence across our nation.
To start our discussion about praying for ICE aggressors I want to recognize how triggering this might be for some, especially if you are closer to the brutality we’ve see on our streets. Praying for an aggressor should never be an exercise of excusing what they have done or ignoring the pain of the victim. If the very thought of praying for them only brings pain and confusion for you, please take a step away and breathe deep. This conversation will be here when you’re able to continue with it.
I’m writing from the perspective of a follower of Jesus Christ, and that brings an emphasis on what he himself taught about challenging things like forgiveness, reconciliation and mercy. I’ve been praying and advocating in my own small ways for the victims of ICE aggression spreading across our country, for the families and individuals of color unjustly targeted, for all detained and held without due process, and especially for those who have lost their lives in detention centers and on our streets. It has been growing in my heart and mind that I should also pray for ICE.
We pray, then we peaceably protest. We pray, then we speak truth to power. We pray, then we oppose the aggressors. We pray, then we stand in solidarity with our most vulnerable neighbors.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Jesus in Matthew 5:9
That this federal administration can so easily find and hire all these agents, these willing aggressors, points to a moral, ethical and spiritual illness within our society. The violence is especially painful because the aggressors are also our neighbors and represent themselves as law enforcement. We’re sickened by their decision to hate and to do such violence, and we unequivocally oppose and condemn their actions. We also stand in a faith tradition that has always taught us that we do not return hate with hate or violence with violence. We chase after a better way. We chase after peace.
The highest example for living that better way is Jesus Christ.
In the midst of his own unjust and painful execution he could still look down upon an angry crowd who put him on a cross and pray, “Father forgive them.” (Luke 23:32-34) We want to also have the kind of eyes that can look upon an aggressor and see their humanity, even while deploring their actions and injustices. We also want the kind of heart that remains unstained by their anger and stronger than their hate. Jesus could see within that violent crowd people who themselves needed a better way.
Jesus asks us to make prayer our response to persecution and love our gift to those who would be our enemies.(Matthew 5:43-48)
That’s not a posture of weakness or a capitulation to violence, instead it’s a starting place from which we break the cycle of violence and hatred multiplying through our interactions. In that Matthew 5 passage Jesus lifts love and prayer out of the usual system of transactional reciprocity, just giving some to get some. He realigns love and prayer to be transformative and reconciling, able to bring about something new and unexpected.
The Apostles Peter and Paul (1 Peter 3:9-12 & Romans 12:13-21) both continue this teaching from Christ in letters to the church by reminding us to resist the all too easy reflex of repaying evil with evil. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brings this wisdom home for us in our own time, in his amazing work, Strength to Love (1963).
“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.”
To pray for ICE agents we begin by praying for ourselves.
We begin by asking for the Spirit of God to soften our hearts and to open our minds. It will take some imagination and effort to see past the masks, guns, grenades and tactical gear of war. Somewhere in all that mess is a fellow human being. We pray for the grace to see that valuable person, as broken and sick as their aggression might be. We ask for help because this is not an easy task.
“O God, help us to see the value and humanity in all our neighbors; even for the aggressor we would have a capacity to love and give mercy. Give us eyes to see them as more than their aggression. Help us to find within our hearts a sincere love for them, as undeserved, as unasked for and as unexpected as it might be.”
We pray for their healing.
A friend of mine used to always remind me of the axiom that hurting people hurt people. What kind of brokenness has moved these human souls to such aggression and violence? What kind of hurt causes a one to be so blind to the pain of others? Their willingness to put on all that gear and invade people’s homes and places of work points to some deep brokenness.
“O God, forgive them for their blindness to the evil they do. Give them healing from their fears and insecurities, and give them insight into the pain and fear they cause. Bring people of healing and wholeness into their lives, people who can show them the strength of love.”
We pray for their conviction and courage.
It’s so clear when we watch the videos that these aggressors are deeply insecure and afraid. The posturing, the escalation of violence and their willingness to follow bad-faith orders show how badly they crave acceptance and validation. The extremes of their bigotry and violence show a complete lack of self-reflection. Their moral and ethical compasses have been lost.
“O God, we ask you to open their eyes, ears and hearts to the pain caused to others by their actions. Weigh down their every waking moment with deep doubts about their choice to harass, divide and persecute. Awaken them to the shame of their chosen path.”
We pray for them to experience a conversion.
The word conversion carries a lot of baggage for some people, but it’s a good word for what we want for these souls. They need to be converted, changed, moved to a whole new way of being a human. We pray for a true interior reorientation. We’re wanting a Damascus Road kind of experience for them, like the one that stopped a murderously aggressive Saul in his tracks and turned him 180 degrees in life. (Acts 9:1-22) We pray for these souls to be shook.
“O God, draw them to yourself to be made new and transformed. May they be shaken from the fortress of ignorance and bigotry which blinds their hearts and fuels their violence. Humble them and bring their aggression to a standstill. Uproot them from the fear that binds and the hatred that drives.”
We’re believing in and calling for the best humanity in the aggressors and in ourselves.
Fighting them with reciprocal hatred and violence will not solve our shared societal illnesses. Again, from Strength to Love, Dr. King so powerfully defines the call, the work and the hope of being a peacemaker.
“At times we are able to humiliate our worst enemy. Inevitably, his weak moments come and we are able to thrust in his side the spear of defeat. But this we must not do. Every word and deed must contribute to an understanding with the enemy and release those vast reservoirs of goodwill which have been blocked by impenetrable walls of hate.”
We pray, then we peaceably protest. We pray, then we speak truth to power. We pray, then we oppose the aggressors. We pray, then we stand in solidarity with our most vulnerable neighbors.
“O God, we’re all broken, but we would be made whole. May our reservoirs of goodwill be found and opened wide. Bring us all together in greater humility do kindness and mercy. May we always be peace-makers, peace-seekers, peace-doers and peace-speakers. Amen.”
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