MANKATO — As labor unions, local businesses, activists and faith leaders across Minnesota observed ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom, an interdenominational prayer service at Grace Lutheran Church in Mankato gathered worshipers to pray for healing and for immigrant neighbors living in fear.
The service brought together members of Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian and other faith traditions. The gathering served as a space for prayer, song and collective grounding amid heightened anxiety for immigrant communities in the state as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence surges.
Rev. John Odegard of Grace Lutheran said the service came together in just one week, stemming from clergy group conversations across denominations, with leaders quickly agreeing on the need and location.
“I kept hearing people tell me that they felt powerless to do anything. They weren’t sure what to do with their energy and their longing for change, and this was just one way that we could speak to them,” Odegard told The Free Press.
About 60 people gathered in the chapel, braving the subzero temperatures for an hour of reverent solidarity.
“They always say that it takes a village, and if you want a village, you have to be willing to be a villager,” said attendee Gretchen Seppman, whose aunt is a member of Grace Lutheran. “What’s going on is wrong, whether it’s legal or not, it’s immoral. It’s hard to watch and it’s not OK.”
Gretchen’s mother, Jody Seppman, added that “The world is a mess” but the service was an opportunity to “join with other people to hopefully make a difference and to build community.”
Through music, spoken lamentations from the congregation and reflections and prayers from local pastors, attendees prayed for neighbors experiencing fear and uncertainty, for those advocating alongside them and for healing in local communities, the state and the nation.
Odegard told the congregation he sees countless acts of love every day from those who are donating food, delivering it to neighbors too nervous to leave their homes, giving rides, monitoring school pickup and drop-off locations so that “families will know that their children can make it home safely.”
“The radical changes that we seek in the world are already present and taking root in those who are advocating for the marginalized, those who stand in solidarity with others and those who simply act in love for the person right in front of them,” he said in his remarks.
During the invitation to lament, individuals had the opportunity to speak aloud their griefs and concerns. Lamentations included words of encouragement for neighborhoods who live in fear and anxiety, for accountability to the crimes that have already been committed, and for compassion and kindness.
Attendees also were invited to perform a tactile act of prayer. People came forward to light candles in recognition of immigrant neighbors and communities. Maps of Minnesota and the world were laid on a table, allowing participants to place tea lights on locations connected to loved ones and communities for whom they were praying.
The gathering took place alongside broader statewide actions marking ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom, a coordinated day of economic blackout and protest against the estimated 3,000 ICE agents working across the state.
Earlier in the day, about 100 clergy members were arrested at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport by airport authorities and Bloomington law enforcement, according to the nonprofit Faith in Minnesota. Reports say organizers gathered as part of the statewide shutdown, calling on airlines to join in urging ICE to end its intensified enforcement activity in the state.
Pastor Jacie Richmond of Bethlehem Lutheran Church rooted the motivation for participation in the local prayer service in biblical calls and teachings in the New Testament’s book of Matthew that name and center vulnerable people.
“We are called to care for those who are in need, and to love and serve our neighbors,” Richmond told The Free Press. “So this is just a call back to those values, to remind us that those are the values of who we are as Christians, and that is how we are called to be in the world.”