Songs for Liberation: Faith Communities Abolish ICE

Devotional

Day 1: We Are Here, Together, and Our Love Carries Us

The power of collective presence and shared love can sustain us through difficult times. When we gather, we affirm that we are not alone in our struggles. This shared humanity and mutual care become a source of strength, enabling us to face challenges with resilience and hope. Our connection to one another is a vital force that can carry us through any storm. [28:21]

Psalm 133:1 (ESV)
"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!"

Reflection: In what specific ways have you experienced the strength of community recently, and how can you actively contribute to fostering that sense of togetherness in the coming week?

Day 2: You Are Not Alone; We Will Create Liberation

Even in the face of oppression and isolation, the truth remains that no one is truly alone. There is a collective spirit of resistance and a shared desire for freedom that binds us. By recognizing this interconnectedness, we can actively work together to build a future where liberation is not just a dream, but a tangible reality for all. [35:29]

Galatians 3:28 (ESV)
"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Reflection: When you feel overwhelmed by challenges, how can remembering that you are not alone empower you to take a step towards creating positive change?

Day 3: Making Liberation Happen Through Our Actions

The vision of liberation is not passive; it requires our active participation and commitment. We are called to be agents of change, to work diligently and intentionally to bring about a more just and equitable world. This is not a task for a select few, but a collective endeavor where each of us has a role to play in making liberation a reality. [40:07]

Micah 6:8 (ESV)
"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Reflection: What is one concrete action you can take this week that directly contributes to making liberation a reality for someone in your community?

Day 4: De-escalating Walls, Inviting Neighbors In

The spirit of resistance calls us to dismantle the barriers that divide us and to actively build bridges of connection. This involves actively choosing love and compassion, reaching out to those around us, and creating spaces where everyone feels welcomed and valued. By tearing down fences and inviting our neighbors in, we cultivate a more inclusive and supportive community. [43:54]

Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV)
"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Reflection: Where in your life might you be unconsciously building fences, and what small, intentional step can you take to invite someone in or tear down a barrier?

Day 5: Courage to Show Up and Do Justice

The fight for justice requires immense courage, especially when faced with systemic cruelty and oppression. It is in these moments that we are called to show up, to lend our voices, and to act with moral conviction. Even when afraid, the commitment to doing justice and loving kindness is a powerful force that can bring about profound change. [01:56:54]

1 John 4:18 (ESV)
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear, because fear holds with the punishment. Anyone who fears has not been made perfect in love."

Reflection: When you feel hesitant to speak up or act in the face of injustice, what source of courage can you draw upon to help you take that step?

Sermon Summary

Song and resistance are presented as sacramental practices: singing regulates breath, steadies nervous systems, and holds community in witness. Drawing on recent direct-action work in Minneapolis, the speaker frames congregational life as a site of organized courage—bringing back practices and songs learned on the streets so local communities can resist cruelty and protect neighbors. The spiritual logic is clear: love demands embodiment; faith shows up in the streets, at kitchen tables, and at airport terminals where the machinery of enforcement operates. This is not abstract theology but a practical, embodied devotion that refuses isolation and replaces it with mutual aid and strategic disruption.

The talk names the structural sources of the crisis—white supremacy, imperialism, and colonialism—linking contemporary ICE raids and deportation policy to a longer history of state violence and displacement. Personal testimonies are offered not as theatrics but as evidence: stories of door-busting raids, people pulled from homes, and communities left without legal infrastructure demonstrate that cruelty is purposeful and engineered. At the same time, abundant grassroots response—neighbors making coats, faith leaders answering urgent calls, hundreds mobilizing—shows how ordinary actions accumulate into moral force.

Concrete strategy accompanies the prophetic witness. Organizers put forward three interlocking tactics: nonviolent direct action to physically interrupt enforcement, relentless congressional pressure to cut funding and demand investigations, and targeted campaigns against corporate enablers that profit from or facilitate immigration enforcement. Victories like pressuring an airline to drop ICE contracts and mobilizing at corporate headquarters are presented as proof that strategic pressure works. The closing summons is both pastoral and tactical: continue to train in nonviolent action, sing together to sustain courage, and build local practices that refuse cruelty while cultivating liberation. The theological claim is simple and sturdy—faith is visible, collective love is operative, and justice is pursued by embodied, organized, and creative resistance.

Key Takeaways

1. Song as spiritual, embodied resistance Singing is described as a theological practice that calms bodies, unites breath, and converts private grief into collective witness. When song becomes a discipline, it sustains long campaigns, keeps people present to one another, and transforms fear into disciplined courage. This practice reframes worship as public accompaniment rather than private consolation. [27:06]
2. Witness requires public, sustained presence Showing up is not symbolic theatre but tactical protection: by being visible and persistent, communities slow enforcement, protect individuals, and make cruelty harder to execute. Steady presence shifts the calculus of power by making actions observable and by building webs of mutual support that outlast headlines. The moral argument rests on the concrete lives saved and the deterrence created by communal vigilance. [111:05]
3. Name structural roots, not just symptoms The crisis is traced to systems—white supremacy, imperialism, and colonial histories—so responses must move beyond isolated acts of charity to systemic interventions. Naming these root causes clarifies where pressure must be applied: policy, funding streams, and corporate partnerships that enable enforcement. Theology here supplies a frame that resists individualizing blame and instead targets institutions. [108:27]
4. Strategic nonviolent pressure dismantles systems Three interlocking tactics—direct action, sustained congressional pressure, and corporate targeting—are presented as complementary levers of change. Tactical campaigns like the airline victory show how strategic pressure can remove resources that sustain enforcement and create openings for structural shifts. Nonviolence is proposed not merely as ethics but as effective strategy that clusters risk and multiplies leverage. [113:58]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[27:06] - Singing as Resistance
[34:24] - Song for Liam and the Vulnerable
[35:01] - Spanish Song of Liberation
[41:34] - Teaching New Songs for Action
[106:24] - Report from Minneapolis
[108:27] - Structural Causes: Empire and Racism
[109:45] - ICE Raids and Personal Testimonies
[111:05] - Grassroots Solidarity and Showing Up
[113:58] - Three Strategic Asks for Action
[115:34] - Corporate Targets and Victories
[117:12] - Organize, Train, Sing On
[118:09] - Closing Blessing

Bible Study Guide

Here is a Bible study guide based on the sermon summary:

Bible Reading

"Singing is a way that gets us breath, [27:22] that gets regulates our nervous systems, and they are using song all the time on the streets."

"Cruelty is the point. [49:45] We had a panel of faith leaders sharing with us, and the moderator said, tell me about that time. Tell me about a time. And to a person, the people on the panel said, which one? There's so many."

"The fascists thrive on our isolation, and this is why it's so important that we are here today. [01:51:59] But she said, we need your courage and to send you home with courage."

Observation questions

The sermon highlights singing as a practice that regulates breath and nervous systems. What does this suggest about the physical and emotional impact of communal singing? [27:22]
When asked to share a time when cruelty was evident, the response was, "Which one? There's so many." [49:45] What does this collective response reveal about the nature of the cruelty being discussed?
The statement is made that "fascists thrive on our isolation." [01:51:59] What does this imply about the power of community and connection in resisting oppressive forces?

Interpretation questions

The sermon frames song as a way to convert private grief into collective witness and to transform fear into disciplined courage. [27:06] How does this understanding of song challenge the idea of worship as solely private consolation?
The sermon connects contemporary ICE raids and deportation policy to a longer history of state violence, white supremacy, imperialism, and colonialism. [01:48:27] How does understanding these structural roots help us move beyond addressing only the symptoms of injustice?
The sermon emphasizes that showing up and being visible is not symbolic theatre but tactical protection that slows enforcement and makes cruelty harder to execute. [01:51:05] What does this suggest about the power of persistent, public presence in creating change?

Application questions

The sermon describes singing as a theological practice that calms bodies, unites breath, and converts private grief into collective witness. [27:06] In what ways can we intentionally incorporate singing into our lives and community to foster courage and solidarity, especially during difficult times?
The sermon points out that cruelty is the point and that the crisis stems from systemic issues like white supremacy and imperialism. [49:45] How can we move beyond individual acts of charity to engage in systemic interventions that address these root causes in our own communities?
The sermon highlights that "fascists thrive on our isolation" and that community is crucial for resistance. [01:51:59] What concrete steps can we take to build stronger local practices of mutual aid and refuse isolation, actively cultivating liberation in our neighborhoods?
The sermon presents three interlocking tactics: nonviolent direct action, congressional pressure, and targeting corporate enablers. [01:53:58] How can we, as individuals and as a community, train in and practice these forms of strategic, nonviolent pressure to dismantle systems of injustice?
The sermon calls for faith to show up in embodied, organized, and creative resistance. [01:57:12] What are some specific, creative ways we can embody our faith through organized action to resist cruelty and protect our neighbors, even when it feels daunting?

Sermon Clips

``I am reverend Kathy Ryanstar. My pronouns are they, them, and I am affiliated community minister at Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware, UUSD years. Where are you? You're out here. I work for the Unitarian Universalist Association, our denomination, with Side With Love, which is our organizing department. And in that capacity, I had the honor, the privilege, and the wait to answer the call to go to Minnesota eight days ago, nine days ago. I'm gonna pull up my notes. And it was there that I learned that song and some of the other songs that we sang earlier because song is such a critical part of rooting the horror and rooting the resistance in breath, in power, in faith. [01:46:24] (60 seconds) #SongsForResistance

March Minnesota is a pro queer, anti racist, multicultural group of faith leaders who put out a call fourteen days ago today for faith leaders from all over the country to come last Thursday and Friday to Minneapolis. And in less than six days, over 600 folks came. many they had to close registration because they could not do all of that. There were so many who said, yes. We will come. And there are many, including many of my colleagues here who said, I want to go. It's not gonna work this time, and that's okay because we take shifts for the revolution. [01:47:24] (46 seconds) #FaithForJustice

We were asked to bring what happened there home because what's happening there is coming here. In some ways, it's already here. And what's happening right now, as they reminded us, as we know, what's happening now is not new. It's a product of white supremacy. It's a product of imperialism and colonialism. [01:48:10] (23 seconds) #ResistWhiteSupremacy

All of this has has, kind of pushed to the side the fact that our country has once again invaded another country and supported a coup in another country in Venezuela. And it is things like that that our country has done for so many hundreds of years that is the cause of much migration, that that same administration and past administrations have been attacking. [01:48:33] (25 seconds) #StopImperialism

One of the Latino pastors who met and shared with us said, my people have been hiding most of their lives, not just for the last fifty days. What's happening now harkens back to the slave patrols, Antiblackness, we were shared with an Eritrean organizer. She said, I do voter registration, but right now, we are just trying to patch up and do what we can, and there is so little infrastructure. [01:48:58] (27 seconds) #ProtectImmigrantLives

Black immigrants here have so little access to lawyers. Anti blackness is so real. And George Floyd was murdered three blocks from where Renee Goode was murdered. They said cruelty is the point. We had a panel of faith leaders sharing with us, and the moderator said, tell me about that time. Tell me about a time. And to a person, the people on the panel said, which one? There's so many. [01:49:25] (34 seconds) #FightAntiBlackness

Yep. I went there when the call came through when I was trying to take my go pick up my kid from soccer. Actually, don't know. Indoor soccer, I'm sure. And there were 30 ICE agents surrounding this house. They bashed in the door. They pulled the man out in his shorts and chant glass, and then their door is bashed in in 10 degree heat, 10 degree weather, and the landlords won't fix it. [01:50:00] (27 seconds) #StopICEViolence

Hundreds and thousands of people showing up, saying, oh, yeah. I just did this little thing. I just put out a call for who needs some help with food. I just collected some coats. I just saw the call and signal and went outside. I just I just I just. But thank you for coming from all the way where from Delaware to Minneapolis. [01:51:13] (27 seconds) #EveryActionCounts

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Songs for Liberation: Faith Communities Abolish ICE

Devotional

Day 1: We Are Here, Together, and Our Love Carries Us

Day 2: You Are Not Alone; We Will Create Liberation

Day 3: Making Liberation Happen Through Our Actions

Day 4: De-escalating Walls, Inviting Neighbors In

Day 5: Courage to Show Up and Do Justice

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Songs for Liberation: Faith Communities Abolish ICE

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