Pastoral Letter on Safety and Welcome in Worship
10/5/2025
To the beloved and courageous saints of Muhlenberg Lutheran Church,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Amidst the challenges of his time, the faithful church leader Timothy received letters encouraging him to persist courageously in the ministry of Jesus Christ, reminded of all that God has given us. “For God did not give us a spirit of fear but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
As your pastor, I write to you today to implore you to cling to the same promises and hope that guided the early church, as they were led through fear by the abundant provision of our God. I share this word of encouragement to you now because I have heard from members of our community who express valid concerns in the wake of recent events across our country.
On Sunday, September 28, a man smashed a pickup into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, opened fire with an assault rifle and set the building ablaze during a crowded Sunday service. At least four people were killed and eight wounded, and through fire the building was a total loss. It was the latest of many shooting attacks on houses of worship in the U.S. in recent years, including one in August that killed two children during Mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis. I grieve and renounce these senseless acts of violence, and invite our community to pray for all who have been affected by these horrific attacks.
In the wake of such violence, many in our community and across our country may wonder whether it is safe to attend worship today. Valid concerns of copycats are often raised after particular styles of violence. These arenot the kinds of questions that any of us should have to ask ourselves as we seek to live out our faithful commitments. Yet, devastatingly, this is also a reality that binds us together as people of faith, regardless of tradition.
These concerns are not unfounded, and reflect a traumatic response that is experienced by countless Americans every day when gun violence is such a consistent reality. The ELCA Church Council adopted a Social Message on Gun-Related Violence on April 13, 2024, and I encourage you to read this faithful resource. This social message says:
“Traumatizing experiences and resulting perceptions of insecurity can inform the way people picture the future and their environments. These neighbors live in some degree of life-altering fear. Senses of threat can put them on guard for imagined likely harm and even justify hypervigilance. Polling research indicates that four in 10 people in the U.S. fear becoming a victim of gun-related violence. Young people are more fearful than adults. Over half of our neighbors expect gun violence to increase in coming years... In circumstances such as these, where people adopt defensive mindsets and practices, they are exhibiting a form of trauma that can be understood as anticipatory. Anticipatory trauma has been documented among violence survivors and people and communities that take steps to avoid becoming victims.”
This traumatic response to the devastating stories that surround us is valid. And yet, God did not give us a spirit of fear. For centuries, the church has gathered faithfully around God’s word and sacraments in varying degrees of safety and security. I give thanks for the laws of our land that allow us to gather freely for worship, while holding in the other hand the reality of violence in our world. In that balance, I want to share with you what Muhlenberg Lutheran Church is doing to ensure the safety and well-being of all who gather in this place, while recommitting ourselves to our values that are lived out through radical hospitality.
Muhlenberg has completed a Harrisonburg Police Department security audit of our building, and based on the feedback we received, the Congregation Council has taken diligent steps in creating a safe place to worship.
The Safety & Security Committee was created by Congregation Council in July 2024 to evaluate and address safety and security issues on our campus. It includes the following individuals: Malcolm Wilfong, Steve Wilfong, Sam Sampson, Council Liaison Jacob Dunlap, Staff Liaison Jeff Williams, Bruce Hamilton and Rose Horner.
A system of coded locks have been installed around the building to ensure the safety of our staff and volunteers throughout the week.
The Gathering Area doors are the only ones unlocked on Sunday Morning, primarily so that we can provide a direct and clear welcome to anyone who joins us for worship, but also so that our ushers and greeters have a clear sense of who has entered the building while we are gathered for worship.
In May 2025, church and MAC entrances were numbered to facilitate quicker EMS response time if/when needed.
MAC (lower level) Window Tinting was approved by the Property Committee to reduce heat intrusion, and to protect Second Home students and staff, as well as our Sunday School participants, from “onlookers.” The project was completed in May 2025.
Our leaders continue to work diligently to ensure that we are taking every precaution that is reasonable and possible when we gather for worship. That being said, beloved, even as we take these precautions, our confidence does not rest in locks or audits or protocols alone. Our true refuge is in Christ Jesus, who meets us at font and table, who walks beside us on every road, and who is made known in the breaking of the bread.
We will not allow fear to dictate who we are or how we gather. God gave us “a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline,” so we will be uncompromising in our welcome. We welcome all because God welcomes all. This welcome is not cautious or conditional, but bold and abundant, rooted in the boundless love of God. We will not become a community that meets violence with violence, nor will you see armed guards in our house of worship. As our Lord said, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword.” (Matt. 26:52). Our calling is not to arm ourselves, but to open ourselves — to God, to neighbor, to stranger, to the Risen Christ who comes among us still.
At Muhlenberg, our values ground us for this calling. We will remain Open, welcoming all as God in Christ has first welcomed us. We will be Authentic, honest about our fears yet steadfast in our hope. We will be Relational, greeting visitors and strangers as we would the Risen One on the Emmaus road, trusting that in every face we encounter the image of God. And we will be Serving, living out the radical grace of God not only within these walls but in every place God sends us.
This is the gospel we are called to live: a gospel of radical grace, of fierce love, and of peace that passes understanding. And so we will continue to be a community that embodies Christ’s welcome, that holds fast to God’s promises, and that dares to shine light into the darkness.
May the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, guiding us as we walk together in faith, in hope, and in love.
In the name of Jesus,
Pastor Alex Zuber
