Before services on Sunday morning, Rev. Brad Laurvick of Highlands United Methodist Church in Denver received a call letting him know the church’s sign had been vandalized.
Every week, church officials put up a new message on the marquee outside the building at 3131 Osceola St. In response to recent anti-immigrant sentiment, church leaders decided to use the sign to welcome to foreigners.
But the message they chose wasn’t a political statement — it was a Bible verse.
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” the sign read, part of a lesson from Jesus in the book of Matthew. On Sunday morning, some of the letters were missing and the sign’s glass was smashed in.
“It was heartbreaking that someone could see a message of love to all people and take exception to that,” Laurvick said.
Before the service, Laurvick hastily put up caution tape on the sign and placed a makeshift cardboard sign alongside it, proclaiming, “Nothing will break our commitment to stand with the oppressed.”
As members of the congregation arrived for Sunday services, they saw what had happened. Rather than react with fear, Laurvick said the vandalism motivated them.
“The damage was not enough to scare us but it was enough to motivate us to build a home where all belong,” Laurvick said.
The church reported the vandalism to the Denver Police Department, which is investigating the incident. Laurvick said that because there is no video footage of the incident, police currently have no suspects. This is the first time the church has been vandalized, though five years ago someone left letters on cars in the parking lot expressing anger at the church’s LGBT-inclusive stance.
The congregation supports immigrants in a number of ways. Laurvick has testified at the statehouse in support of legislation promoting immigration reform, and church members are active in political and nonprofit groups that work with immigrants and refugees.
After the vandalism, church leaders made a Facebook post reaffirming their commitment to welcoming all. It also expressed love toward the attacker.
“To those who vandalized our church sign proclaiming God’s welcome to all: God loves you, too. We still love you,” the post said. It has been shared more than 700 times.
The Colorado chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement in support of Highlands Methodist and asked law enforcement to investigate the incident as a possible hate crime.
“Pastor Brad is well-known in the Denver faith community, having reached out personally to the Muslim community to extend the hand of friendship, and we are deeply disturbed that his church and its parishioners were targeted,” CAIR Colorado acting board chair Krista Cole said in the statement.
Why people have trouble seeing the worth and value of those from other places was something that had been concerning Laurvick for long before the sign was broken, he said. The vandalism was a reminder of the need to address racism that’s present in local communities, not just in far-away places, he said.
He was proud of the church for responding with love instead of hate or fear.
“We’re a community that doesn’t respond with anger but responds with an invitation to relationship,” he said.
