"Christians Are Called to Be Dangerous"
The only way to "live like Heaven here, and now" is to take risks and fight for justice with love
“A lot of us were taught that salvation is about what we are saved from; saved from sin, saved from hell, saved from judgment … that's part of it, but if that's all salvation is, then what do we do now? Just wait until we die?” Rev. Joseph Yoo asks in a five-part Instagram series on salvation.
What do we do now?
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller recently berated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leaders for only arresting immigrants with criminal records or suspected criminal records. He then set a Draconian daily quota of 3,000 arrests and demanded to know why ICE officers aren’t arresting people outside Home Depots and 7-Elevens1 to help reach the campaign promise of a million deportations per year.2
Beloved Native American actor Jonathan Joss was murdered by his own neighbor in a homophobic hate crime on the first Sunday of Pride month. He was shot and killed in front of the charred remains of the home he and his husband shared until it burned down in January.3
Hundreds of people have been disappeared to CECOT, the for-profit El Salvadoran torture prison,4 and undisclosed locations in Djibouti or South Sudan.5 They are all still waiting for the due process they’re legally entitled to.
There is so much we can do. And for people of faith, there is much we are called to do.
“The truth is, you weren't just saved from something. You were saved for something: for justice, for healing, for mercy, for wholeness, community, for love that looks like Jesus.” Speaking to more than 100,000 followers across social media platforms, Fr. Yoo’s message makes it clear. As we are saved, so we are called.
“Your Friendly Neighborhood (Episcopal) Priest” (as he describes himself in his bio) is one of a growing number of religious leaders taking to social media to share their insight informally and relatably. They aren’t just theologians preaching, they are servant leaders meeting people where they’re at: online and afraid.
We aren’t just looking for doctrine, we’re looking for guidance. We don’t want to go it alone. Fortunately, Fr. Yoo feels like one of your kindest, wisest friends. He is open-minded, openhearted, and speaks to the high stakes.
“Salvation isn't a ‘Get Out of Hell Free’ card. It's a call to live like Heaven here, and now. Jesus didn't save you just to keep you safe,” Fr. Yoo tells us before explaining something extraordinarily unexpected.
“He saved you to make you dangerous: dangerous to evil, dangerous to despair, dangerous to anything that keeps people from wholeness and hope.”
Modern Christians do not think of themselves as dangerous. Though they claim to “not want to get political,” when it comes to Black Lives, LGBTQ rights, and asylum seekers and refugees, they are ready to do battle for pro-life legislation and the Second Amendment.
But “politics” is just a structural term for humanity, and not just our own, but the deep and expansive humanity of our neighbors. And we are called to serve them. All of them. Especially when they are in danger. That includes pregnant girls and women, People of Color, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and our LGBTQ neighbors.
“You are not just rescued. You are recommissioned. So if your salvation story ends at ‘I was saved from’, you might still be at the beginning, because the real question isn't, what did Jesus save me from? It’s ‘What did Jesus save me for?’” Fr. Yoo implores us to explore this question. It can be your life’s work, your soul’s greatest calling.
Some of our fellow Christians’ brave answer is both timeless and regrettably still modern.
Buried in the avalanche of catastrophic daily news, it’s easy to miss good news, the needles in so many haystacks. In 2017, Mayflower Congregational Church declared themselves a sanctuary church and agreed to incur any legal risks from helping or even housing immigrants trapped in deportation actions. A video of the congretation voting is now going viral. Many other American Christian churches are joining them, taking a righteous stand for justice, mercy, wholeness, and community.
The Mayflower Congregational Church is also accompanying vulnerable people to immigration appointments and leading prayer vigils outside of the Department of Homeland Security office, which shares a building with U.S. Customs and Immigration Services and is increasingly known to be deporting people when they lawfully report for mandatory check-ins.6 In deep red Oklahoma they joined more than two dozen other churches and community groups to prevent the Department of Education from making “inquiries” into the immigration status of school children.7
That a church named after historical American immigrants is fighting for the humanity and the rights of modern American immigrants isn’t just full-circle, it’s necessary.
My fellow modern-day American Christians, how are we endangering injustice? Are we endangering evil and despair? How can we create hope and share wholeness? By practicing what some are calling radical compassion.
As the documentary filmmakers of American Heretics say, “It’s not what you believe, it’s what you do that matters.”
“Salvation was never meant to be just personal … somewhere along the way, especially in the United States, we made salvation all about me and Jesus, my prayer, my soul, my eternal destination, my personal relationship with God, and in the process, we turn the gospel into a self-help plan with a Heaven upgrade,” Fr. Yoo addresses abiding consumption of faith as almost a personal consumer good. As my favorite atheist once told me, some Christians carry their faith like it’s the right brand of accessory. But salvation isn’t a coveted pair of shoes you get to buy and wear. Salvation is a calling to do, to care for one another.
Fr. Yoo explains our obligation to one another, “… the truth is Jesus didn't just die for you, he died for us. Salvation isn't just about going to Heaven. It's about becoming a people, a community shaped by love, justice, mercy, and reconciliation, a body, not just a bunch of floating saved individuals doing spiritual self-care.”
In our busy, demanding, and risk-averse lives, it’s all too easy to focus inward, to quietly pray for others without taking risks for them. We might be exhausted by our daily obligations and routines, but we are largely comfortable, and we are blessed to be so safe.
“… if your salvation never leaves your private life, if it never touches your neighbor, your community, the poor, the marginalized, the least of these, the systems around you, that is not the kind of salvation Jesus preached,” Fr. Yoo continues. “A faith that's only personal isn't powerful, and the salvation that never moves through you into the world, it isn't finished yet. So yes, Jesus saved you, but he also saved you into something, into a body, into a movement, into a way of being human together, because real salvation always flows outward.”
As Fr. Yoo invites us so beautifully, let’s become a community shaped by mercy, love, and justice. Salvation isn’t personal, it’s communal. It is an opportunity to be a part of one another, to share our grace with the world, not just keep it for ourselves.
American Christians, our friends and neighbors are in imminent danger. You have been saved to fight for them.
Let’s use our privilege to confront injustice wherever we find it. Let’s create hope in the peace of Christ. Together.
https://newrepublic.com/post/196009/stephen-miller-ice-officials-arrest-confusion
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/13/trump-immigration-deportation-obstacles
https://apnews.com/article/king-of-hill-actor-fatally-shot-joss-68cdcbcdefd0515d5315755201245fca
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-records-show-about-migrants-sent-to-salvadoran-prison-60-minutes-transcript/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/26/world/africa/trump-deportations-south-sudan.html
https://freepressokc.com/only-declared-okc-sanctuary-church-holds-vigil-at-ice-offices/
https://freepressokc.com/press-release-29-community-groups-and-churches-call-on-legislators-to-oppose-immigration-measures-in-schools/