{"id":24609,"date":"2026-01-27T23:34:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/?p=24609"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:34:42","slug":"sharing-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/sharing-the-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing the Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Rev. Shalom Agrarap<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.\u201d \u2014 Flannery O\u2019Connor <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Black clergy person shared a video with me following this weekend\u2019s historic and horrific events in Minneapolis and this was the challenge to a white audience: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of y\u2019all are not activated, you\u2019re just scared. That fear made you loud in a way justice never could. So yes, come fight, because we need y’all, but don\u2019t come like you just discovered fire, don\u2019t come leading movements that you ignored until the cost was personal.\u201d (Hope Giselle-Godsey<\/a>) <\/sub><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, our bishop preached on Rev. Dr. King\u2019s \u201cLetter from a Birmingham Jail\u201d at the University of Puget Sound. He used the opportunity to remind us (clergy, church folks, and students of no faith) that this letter calling for solidarity was not written to enemies. It was written to colleagues. Two of whom were Methodist bishops. Bishop Cedrick recalled to mind that Rev. Dr. King \u201cwas not offering historical commentary, but an ethical confrontation.\u201d Rev. Dr. King tried to make the cost personal for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were reminded that the future does not belong to the polite, but to the brave. It does not belong to those who wait, but those who act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe future does not belong to institutions that manage injustice, it belongs to communities that confront it. So when justice disrupts order, and when truth disturbs comfort, will we be the ones telling it to wait? Or will we finally be the ones who answer the Letter with our own voices, our own [white, Black, and Brown] bodies, our own resources gathered, with those fighting not only for their own survival, but for those who are always and already set aside and forgotten?\u201d (Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth, 1\/22\/26)<\/sub><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is fear in our streets. There is discomfort in our bodies. There is sorrow in our hearts. Names like Philando Castile and Keith Porter may be less familiar than Renee Good and Alex Pretti but that is an opportunity to pause and hold the complicity of our silence over the generations. Will we fight alongside \u201cthose who are always and already set aside and forgotten?\u201d Revelation 3:20 says, \u201cListen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me.\u201d We pray this knock of Christ at the margins is an opportunity for metanoia in our homes, our churches, and our neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rev. Shalom Agtarap<\/strong> serves on the superintendency team for the SeaTac District in The Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church. She is also pastor of First United Methodist Church in Tacoma, Washington.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Can You Do?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few suggestions of actions you can take or organizations to support for justice and immigration rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n