Dear Church Family,

As some of you may know, our church was vandalized earlier this week when a sign featuring a picture of the Sanctuary and The Loft was damaged. Specifically, my face was cut out of the picture, and while this is somewhat frightening, please know that Gabi, Isaiah, and I are doing well and are grateful for the support and response from our church. As I have continued to sit with this incident, I see it not only as a personal attack but, more importantly, as an attack on the values our church community stands for. I am and will remain committed to preaching the gospel of Jesus and following his spiritual path of radical compassion that invites us to join him in a collective effort to abolish the sinful conditions that create hell on earth. I know that those of you who consider me your pastor have allowed me to lead you along this path, but it is a path that we walk together, in solidarity, as siblings in Christ. In this way, despite the perpetrator’s attempt to literally carve me out of the picture, the collective mosaic of our community remains whole —shaken, but unafraid.

Know that we are taking precautions to keep my family and our church community safe. Once we saw the sign had been vandalized, we immediately took it down. Pastor Molly has filed a police report, and we are reaching out to nearby buildings to see if there is any camera footage of the incident. We will also contact our security company to ask them to alert our security guard and have him patrol the church campus on Sundays. Additionally, as staff, we will stay alert and watch for anything unusual during our Sunday services. I want to note how grateful I am to Pastor Molly, the Church Council, our Lay Leaders, and everyone who has stepped up to show my family and me how much we are loved and appreciated.

To be clear, I do not want this incident to change how we connect with our community. If the sign was vandalized because we have the strength to love our neighbors and the courage to live out a gospel of love and justice that includes all people, regardless of their race, gender, class, sexual orientation, or where they fall on a spectrum of belief, I know that we will not respond to this act of hate with hate. As one of the signs in The Loft reminds us, we must learn how to love our enemies because we can become what we hate.

The refusal to mirror evil, or respond to evil in kind, is a difficult truth but one that is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. When we choose to turn the other cheek, we recognize that the ultimate weakness of violence is that it produces exactly what it aims to destroy. Instead of reducing evil, it multiplies it. As the sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. remind us, through violence, you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence, you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence only increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, casting deeper darkness into 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.

Our mission statement reminds us that we are a community committed to radical inclusivity. Despite those who might try to make us believe otherwise, we will stay an unapologetically inclusive space where everyone can feel they belong. I will miss you all this week because I will be in Boston at the American Academy of Religion conference, spending time with other Theo-Nerds. I pray you all have a happy and safe holiday week, and I look forward to seeing you at worship next Sunday.

May we all continue to have and display the strength to love.

Peace and Blessings,
Rev. Dr. Carter