This developing story will be updated as further events unfold.
United Methodist leaders responded quickly with calls for calm, prayer and support for democracy as the nation was stunned by scenes of violent incursion into the U.S. Capitol while Congress attempted to certify the 2020 presidential election results.
Welcome Congress
The sign outside the United Methodist Building at 100 Maryland Ave. N.E. in Washington, D.C., welcomes the 117th Congress. A joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 election results was disrupted Jan. 6 when a mob breached security and occupied the U.S. Capitol. (Church & Society Photo)
The Washington Post reported that thousands of pro-Trump supporters thronged into the nation's capital Jan. 6. Several hundred breached security at the U.S. Capitol, causing Congress to shut down proceedings. Rioters broke into congressional offices and on the floor of both the House and Senate chambers, rifling desks and desecrating monuments with Trump flags.
The closest church edifice to the U.S. Capitol, the United Methodist Building at 100 Maryland Ave. N.E., was nearly empty when rioting by a pro-Trump mob broke out Jan. 6, reported Kurt Adams, communications director for the General Board of Church and Society. The building, owned by Church and Society, sits across from the U.S. Supreme Court and diagonally across from the Capitol.
Like all United Methodist board and agency staff, Church and Society employees have been working from home since March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, so the structure was substantially empty, Mr. Adams said.
However, the building management firm that maintains the edifice on Church and Society's behalf issued an email Wednesday afternoon instructing on-site custodial staff to evacuate the building after the Capitol was breached, Mr. Adams told United Methodist Insight in an email. There was no word on how other building tenants responded to law enforcement's lockdown of the blocks around the Capitol complex.
In advance of Congress' scheduled certification of the 2020 election results, the Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, Church and Society's top executive, sent an email, Church and Society Calls for a Peaceful Transition of Power, urging United Methodists to uphold the election results:
"Today is when the Congress of the United States certifies the votes of the people. This duty fulfills Congress’s constitutional role in the democratic process.
"The peaceful transition of power is a pillar of representative democracy.
"Even as we affirm the right to peaceful assembly, nothing must disrupt this democratic process.
"We condemn the rhetoric from leaders inciting violence and division. We call on all to work for justice and the common good of the country and our democracy.
"We continue to pray for the healing of our nation. ..."
By late Wednesday afternoon, United Methodist leaders began issuing calls for calm, prayer, and support for representative democracy.
Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling, the resident episcopal leader of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, issued a statement that was endorsed by Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey of the Louisiana Conference, current president of the Council of Bishops.
"The light of Epiphany rose with the sun this morning as people of faith celebrated the culmination of Christmastide. That light was met with darkness as a mob pushed past police and broke into the U.S. Capitol while senators and members of Congress debated the certification of the presidential election. As the scene unfolded, most could not comprehend that this insurrection is taking place in the United States of America.
"It is tempting to call for peace, for order and unity. And while we do need to reclaim the peace, we can only do so while speaking the truth of today's horror. It is time to name our reality, to name the deep divisions and hatred being played out in the Senate chamber and throughout the People's House. It is another watershed moment; a time to raise our voices to heaven and take stock of who we, as Americans, have become.
"This alarming occupation and violence at the U.S. Capitol are symptomatic of the vitriol and poison that now infects our culture. It disheartens. The rioters who climbed the steps and walls of the Capitol sought to overturn the law, a fair election, and justice, and claimed their motivation was to defend God and their freedoms. They waved banners emblazoned with the words, "Jesus Saves," but this is not what Emmanuel came to earth to embody. This is a perversion of the Gospel. This should drive all of us to our knees.
"Since March, I have shared messages with you as we live through this liminal time of two pandemics. Today, the chasm of this in-between time grows deeper. As a church, we are called to profound and fervent prayer - prayer that will shake foundations and usher in a new age; prayer that will transform hearts and a nation; prayer that reminds us of what Christ has called us to be beyond partisan divides. I call on each of you to transcend fear and to resist the temptation to seek the reassurance of easy answers. Followers of Jesus Christ must prophetically embody, in word and deed, the precepts, practices and promises of the Gospel message. It is a message of love, but a love that speaks truth and stands against immorality.
"As a church, as Christians, we must condemn all the forces that led to the unprecedented insurrection today - forces of hate, of white supremacy, of distorted self-interest, and abuse of power.
"Lawmakers and national leaders are all invoking the name of God, asking that God bless America. That is my prayer as well. But, we must be instruments of that blessing, humbling ourselves to truly claim what Abraham Lincoln called, "the better angels of our nature," seeking to discern how to rebuild our nation and nurture the restoration that God demands. In this light, we continue to pray for and support the peaceful transfer of power that is a hallmark of the democratic process.
"In my study, the word HOPE sits on my shelf. It's a word I claim. It is a primary foundation of our faith. I will not allow the actions of an angry mob to steal that hope for our nation, for our church, for our future. Our hope, if it is to be manifest, must be grounded in courage, in justice, in good order, and in fervent love. Our hope proclaims that our light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it – must not overcome it."
United Methodist News Service posted on its Facebook page the text from a prayer for times of national crisis from United Methodist Hymnal No. 517:
"May leaders be led by Your wisdom;
"May they search Your will and see it clearly
"If we have turned from Your way,
"Reverse our ways and help us to repent.
"Give us Your light and Your truth, let them guide us;
"Through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of this world, and our Savior."
Bishop Peggy A. Johnson, Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula-Delaware conferences: "As we gaze at the unthinkable scene of lawless turmoil in our nation’s capital today, with protestors breaking into the U.S. Capitol, this is a moment mired in darkness and grief. Our cherished democracy is being threatened.
"I call the people of the Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula Delaware conferences to join in solidarity with our colleagues in the Baltimore-Washington Conference by lighting candles and placing them in your windows. May your peaceful witness in this and other ways be a reminder that light dispels darkness, good triumphs over evil, and truth overcomes falsehood.
"God is with us during this national crisis. Please be in individual and collective prayer for our country tonight and in the weeks to come."
Bishop Bob Hoshibata, Desert Southwest Conference: "This is ... a day when there is rancor, destruction and violence in the streets of our nation’s capital and the Capitol building. There are demonstrations in places in our conference where there is likewise anger, frustration, and distrust. We are called to a time of de-escalation of violence. Christ calls us to temper our anger or frustration with good works to benefit others. God asks us to work to make our communities, our nation, and our world, places where peace is proclaimed."
Bishop Laurie Haller, Iowa Annual Conference: "We believe that as Christ-followers, we are called to a way of life that is non-violent. When we express our hope, our pain, our disagreements, and our even politics in violent ways, it does not reflect the Prince of Peace whose birth we recently celebrated.
"As people called United Methodist, our commitment is to be God’s hope made real for our conference, our country, and our world. Our words and actions should never cause harm or fear.
"The crisis we see today at the United States Capitol Building saddens, stuns, and surprises us. We are reminded that our Christian faith and our nation’s principles call us to a peaceful transition of power.
"On this day of Epiphany, when we remember the journey of the Wise Ones, may we look back on the path that brought us to this point and make the decision to move forward in new ways that do no harm, do intentional good, and display our love for God."
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.