Stand With Minnesota (Southeast Idaho Citizens for Democracy Rally)

Stand With Minnesota

Southeast Idaho Citizens for Democracy rally

Caldwell Park, Pocatello, Idaho

January 31, 2026

By Pastor Mike Conner

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I want to thank Elmer and Iris for the opportunity to speak to you about the moral moment that we find ourselves in. And, as always, it is humbling and inspiring whenever I get to share a platform with Reverend Haydie.

Friends, we’ve heard the call to stand with our neighbors in Minnesota by first standing among them, seeing what they see, and not being afraid to tell the truth about what we see. It is a call to be awakened, moved, even claimed by the suffering of some our most vulnerable neighbors.

If what we read and watch and hear directly about the situation on the ground in Minnesota twists our guts or causes tears to fall, we must listen to our bodies as they call us to respond. Grief is a good teacher.

I would suggest to you that another way for us stand with our neighbors in Minnesota is by standing behind them. We have an opportunity, I would even say a responsibility, to learn from their example and apply their spirit and tactics of moral resistance in our own community.

In my religious tradition, we talk a lot about something called discipleship. Being a disciple means following behind a teacher, learning to say what they say and do what they do. In my case, it is the Christ whose life forms the pattern. I am not permitted to determine my own way in the world like those in this country who, even from pulpits, claim that “might makes right.” Instead I walk behind a Teacher who says, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”

The spotlight has been on Minneapolis these past weeks, but the struggle of ordinary people against the brutalities of ICE has been playing out in places like Lancaster, Pennsylvania; in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; in Portland and Seattle. Everywhere we see the resilience of neighbors who have set aside superficial differences to stand united against harm, who have sacrificed their time, resources, and comfort to stand in the gap for those living in fear of sudden arrest.

We are not short on teachers for this moment, and there is no reason for our community to be unprepared on that sad day when authoritarianism comes knocking on the doors of our most vulnerable neighbors. We can stand with Minnesota by having a teachable spirit as we engage in our own collective resistance.

Here are some things we might learn as we stand with by standing behind:

     Today is the day to forge mutual relationships of care with one another, and to enlarge our sense of belonging to one another. We each might ask ourselves, ‘In a typical week, where does my body literally go? What parts of town, what kinds of people do I just never see? When I imagine who my community is, does it include both the socially privileged and the socially vulnerable? Do I see people of many faiths and worldviews, from different generations? Do I know where the schools or daycares or bus stops, courts or factories or business are where I would need to take my body in a moment’s notice to stand in the gap for someone else? Do I feel a living thread of connection between the Temple and the trainyard, the University and the warming shelter, Amy’s Kitchen and the Boys and Girls club. And then, based on that honest self-reflection, we ought to challenge ourselves to bring new neighbors into our awareness and new concerns into our heart. To borrow words from one of Rev. Haydie’s bishops, we stand with Minnesota by weaving “a rich web of underground care.”

     Today is the day to resist every false narrative that says immigrants or refugees do not have a place in our common life. To reject every suggestion that those who protest peacefully are domestic terrorists, while those who force their way into homes without warrants are protectors of the peace. To decline stories that say we need to circle up and pursue the interests of our own group, and to champion stories that say we have more to gain when we all stand together. Our hearts are not so small nor our resources so scarce that we cannot make more room, and then more room, and then more room. We stand with Minnesota by telling the better story of our shared flourishing.

     Today is also the day for each of us to do the hard inner work of learning to feel the surge of our own anger, of our own impulses toward hatred and violence, without being overcome by them. To learn, through prayer or meditation or training in nonviolent resistance, how to harness that energy and turn it toward acts of compassion and care. We stand with Minnesota by breaking the cycle of harm, and sometimes that starts with our own hearts and imaginations.

     And, friends, if we are serious about resisting ideologies that divide us, serious about saying No to policy violence that’s been given the cheap stamp of divine approval, then today is the day to stand with our neighbors in Minnesota by resisting the forces of injustice here in Idaho. There is so much work for us to do right here, right now. The sacred worth and inherent dignity of our LGBTQ siblings and friends is again under threat. We have opportunities right now to restore reproductive freedoms, to resist cuts to education and healthcare funding. Every day we can choose to feed the hungry, house the houseless, and visit the lonely, the sick, the incarcerated. Let us raise our voice not only in solidarity with those who are far away but for the sake of those who are near. Today is the day.

     There is a chant being lifted up by crowds across the country that says, We’re not cold, we’re not afraid, Minnesota taught us to be brave.

Today is the day to embrace that stirring to be brave, to say Yes to getting engaged.

The teacher I follow once said, “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

Every one of you has a place in this struggle. With each of us taking up the work that we are called to do, no matter how small or it might feel when we consider ourselves alone, together nothing will be impossible for us.

Let us stand behind Minnesota—keep working, start walking.

God bless you.