“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:12–13

Jesus teaches that there is no greater love than the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for others, to lay down one’s life for someone else. It is to offer oneself unselfishly for the sake of others, especially the defenseless and the vulnerable.

On Wednesday, January 7, 2026, Renee Nicole Good was shot while moving her car, attempting to follow the orders of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer. Her last words, captured on video, were, “I’m not mad at you.”

We lament and mourn the loss of Ms. Good, a widow of a veteran, a wife, and a mother who put herself in harm’s way not out of any desire to do harm, but to observe and bear witness to the actions of ICE. We affirm the right to peaceful protest and lawful observation for all Americans, without the threat of repressive or deadly responses by government and law enforcement authorities.

As Presbyterians, we hold a twofold connection to Renee Good. First, we are bound by our shared faith in a God of justice, who calls us to engage the powers of this world and to counter hate with love. Our tradition compels us to oppose injustice with a prophetic word from the Lord and to participate in the transformation of the world God loves.

Our second connection is more personal: Ms. Good was one of us. She was a fellow Presbyterian. Edgewater Presbyterian Church (Illinois) remembered her with these words: “Renee Nicole Good lived out the conviction that every person deserves kindness, regardless of their background… Her story is a testament to the power of the Presbyterian mission and a challenge to our conscience. We mourn a fellow Presbyterian whose quiet smile and creative spirit touched lives from Colorado to Northern Ireland to Minnesota.”

Alongside Ms. Good, we remember George Floyd, whose life was taken at the hands of law enforcement in 2020, within one mile of where Ms. Good was murdered at the hands of enforcement officers, a stark and enduring reminder of the deadly consequences of injustice and the unfinished work of truth, repentance, and transformation to which God continually calls us.

In the coming week, we will remember the life and witness of the martyred Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who called this nation to a “radical revolution of values”. Values that demand divestment from racism, materialism, and militarism. Ms. Good’s life and death echo this same moral call.

Her memory also stands in a sacred lineage of faithful witnesses who have risked and lost their lives in defense of human dignity. We remember the four Maryknoll Sisters—Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Lay Missioner Jean Donovan—who were abducted, abused, and murdered in El Salvador in 1980 for standing alongside the Salvadoran people.

We name as well the Rev. Elijah Lovejoy, murdered for his opposition to the evil of slavery, for whom Giddings Lovejoy Presbytery is named. These are not isolated tragedies, but part of a continuing story of costly discipleship.

We must remember her name: Renee Nicole Good. We remember her as a testament to Jesus’ teaching that God does not change the world through violence, but through faithful presence amid struggle, and that through love refuses to abandon the work of acceptance, justice, and compassion.

Ms. Good’s wife, Rebecca Good, offered a fitting memorial: “On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles.  They had guns. We were raising our son to believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness. Renee lived this belief every day. She is pure love. She is pure joy. She is pure sunshine. Renee was a Christian who knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole.”

Through this remembrance, we rededicate ourselves to advocacy in the name of Christ Jesus. We stand with those who are detained or killed by ICE, treated unjustly, and vilified—whom God defends as bearers of the divine image. We proclaim a God who values all people and who calls us, again and again, to remind the world to value the lives of all.

Through this remembrance, we rededicate ourselves to advocacy in the name of Christ Jesus. We stand with those who are detained, harmed, or killed by enforcement practices, treated unjustly, marginalized, and vilified, whom God defends as bearers of the divine image. We proclaim a God who values all people and who calls us again and again to remind the world to value the lives of all.