Thursday, January 15, 2026

SojoMail - The Christian poet they called a terrorist

By Betsy Shirley
Editor in Chief, Sojourners

Shocking footage travels fast, so you’ve probably seen it: ICE agents smashing windows, dragging people out of their cars, and generally doing things that have “nothing to do with laws or national security.” But you may not have seen how the Minneapolis faith community is joining efforts to keep their city safe: holding vigils, delivering groceries for people scared to leave their homes, and offering spiritual care to protesters shaken by what they’ve witnessed.

Hovering over this week is the memory of Renee Macklin Nicole Good. Though the Trump administration has portrayed her as a terrorist, we’ve learned that the woman who was shot in her car by an ICE agent was a Christian committed to loving her neighbors—and an award-winning poet.

Elsewhere, we learned about a bizarre Christmas sermon delivered at the Pentagon and got a disturbing update from aid workers in Gaza—we hope U.S. leaders will heed the latter (the former, not so much).

On a different note, Sojourners released our first-ever anthology this week: Light for the Way: Seeking Simplicity, Connection, and Repair in a Broken World. Published by Broadleaf Press, it features 50+ years of our most beloved content on the spiritual practices that sustain our justice work for the long haul. We wish this book weren’t so timely, but if the first two weeks of 2026 are any indication, we’re going to need all the light we can get. More here: sojo.net/light.

Renee Good Was Not a Terrorist. She Was a Poet

She was also a woman who took seriously what the Bible says about caring for your neighbors. Good was a wife and mother, and her car, now stained with blood, had stuffed animals piled up in the glove compartment when she was shot. She had a heart for showing up however she could, with whatever words she had.

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