Timberwolves Chaplain Speaks Out

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S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Here is a statement from Matt Moberg, chaplain of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves:

If you're a church posting prayers for peace and unity today while my city bleeds in the street, miss me with that softness you only wear when it costs you nothing.

Don't dress avoidance up as holiness. Don't call silence "peacemaking." Don't light a candle and think it substitutes for showing up.

Tonight an ICE agent took a photo of me next to my car, looked me in the eye and told me, "We'll be seeing you soon."

Not metaphor. Not hyperbole. A threat dressed up in a badge and a paycheck.

Peace isn't what you ask for when the boot is already on someone's neck. Peace is what the powerful ask for when they don't want to be interrupted.

Unity isn't neutral. Unity that refuses to name violence is just loyalty to the ones holding the weapons.

Stop using scripture like chloroform. Stop calling your fear "wisdom." Stop pretending Jesus was crucified because he preached good vibes and personal growth.

You don't get to quote scripture like a lullaby while injustice stays wide awake. You don't get to ask God to "heal the land" if you won't even look at the wound.

There is a kind of peace that only exists because it refuses to tell the truth. That peace is a lie. And lies don't grow anything worth saving.

The scriptures you love weren't written to keep things calm. They were written to set things right. And sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is stop praying around the pain and start standing inside it.

If that makes you uncomfortable—good.

Growth always is.

Amen and that'll preach and praise the Lord and pass the whistles.

Matt Moberg is a 2008 graduate of Bethel University, a Baptist school that's part of the white evangelical Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. Here's a 2021 profile of him for Bethel's alumni magazine, "Always a Seat at The Table."

From that article:

Shortly after Matt Moberg '08 met Minnesota Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders through his work at Christ Presbyterian Church, the two grew closer when they faced coinciding family hardships. Moberg and his wife Lauren's '06, S'09 middle son, Sawyer, was born two months prematurely while Saunders' father, longtime NBA coach Flip Saunders, battled and later succumbed to cancer. During the pain, uncertainty, and loss of control, the two were in frequent contact, and Moberg realized you need people who allow you to be safe enough to be seen during such times. "I think for most guys, we go kicking and screaming into these places of vulnerability, but it's a breath of fresh air when you're there," Moberg says.

Lessons from that time have served Moberg well since Saunders asked him to serve as co-chaplain for the Minnesota Timberwolves. It's come during a time fraught with hardship and uncertainty, from the death of George Floyd to COVID-19. But Moberg is striving to support the players and help them know they are valued by him—and God—for who they are. "It's important to have people around you that you know actually care about what's going on in you—people that remind you not just in their words but in their actions that who you are is more important than what you do, even if what you do gets more attention than who you are," Moberg says.

… Moberg is also co-senior pastor at The Table MPLS. After Floyd's death rocked their Minneapolis community, Moberg acted as an ally at the protests and led a community food, formula, and diaper drive that supplied numerous pop-up food shelves. Debbie Manning S'13, his co-senior pastor, also commends Moberg for leading with thoughtfulness and intention during the pandemic as he follows the science in making decisions for The Table, striving to keep the community safe and reflect Jesus' call to love your neighbor. "Matt continually holds up the value and belief that all are beloved children of God and that all belong," she says. "He does this both in word and action—it's so a part of who we are and our rhythm that we see it in all places in community."

Moberg's church, The Table MLPS is, I think, nondenominational. It's hard to tell from most church websites. A nondenominational church with a name like that looks and feels evangelical, until you look for the 3,000-word statement of faith and find, instead, page outlining the community's values.

Christ Centered

We are formed and found in the life of Jesus, the Son of Love who came to show humanity what God is like. We are committed to practicing the ways of Jesus individually and as a community. The ways of Jesus lead to holistic healing for individuals, families, neighborhoods, and nations. They pull us down the narrow roads of limitless forgiveness, radical acceptance, non-violent peacemaking, abundant generosity, and sacrificial love.

Radically Inclusive

We enthusiastically welcome all people to fully participate in the life of our community without limitation based on gender, race, ethnicity, age, physical or mental capacity, education, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic or marital status. Beyond simply welcoming or allowing, we affirm and celebrate our LGBTQ siblings at every level of church participation and leadership. We need one another in order to become the beloved community Christ has called us to be.

Those values seem pretty great to me but, like the statement from Moberg above, will likely give my evangelical brethren a case of the howling fantods. Good. Growth is always uncomfortable.