Tag Archives: immigration

Safety

28 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Society, Theology

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There are anchor people on certain networks complaining about and blaming protestors for disrupting the private lives of Administration officials – as if this is disconnected from actions the Administration is taking.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Administration’s travel ban was legal.  Children, who seek asylum and are trying to escape from violence, are housed in cages with little hope of ever being reunited with their families.  There are reports of increased violence against Muslims, African-Americans, and those with foreign ancestry – harassment for being who they are.  The Administration admitting that there are planned detention centers.  ICE raids in businesses.  The President stating that people don’t deserve a hearing and should be deported immediately – regardless of whether they are a citizen or not.

Is this what it means to make America great again?

Is this what you believe it means to be a follower of Christ?

Do these facts and questions make you uncomfortable?  Are you angry that I bring them up?  Are you coming up with excuses and rationalizing these activities?  Are you telling yourself that these things will make you safer?

Were you unsafe before these things?  How so?  How exactly are they making you safer?  I want you to actually voice it so that we can all hear the reasoning.  So that you can hear your own words and what thy really mean.  Be really clear.

How many more of these things are needed until you reach this mythical state of safety?

At what point do these actions actually make us less safe?  If you don’t realize it, we have already moved to that point.

What is it with this idol-like worship of safety anyway?  Jesus certainly doesn’t call us to safety.  He calls us to be risky – to be vulnerable. To take up our cross.  There is no safety in following Christ.

Who is safer as a result of these actions?  Not even the people who they are designed for.  Because when our government can impose such actions on a group or groups of people, then where does it end?  When will you be the threat and need to be removed?

Is this really about trying to keep us safe?  Then where is the concern about safety for the asylum seeker?  Where is the concern for the safety of African-Americans who are just living their lives but are having the police called on them by white people?  Where is the concern for the safety of those who wish to carry out their freedom of speech in opposition to these actions?

Why do we seem more concerned with patriotic displays of nationalism, rather than the safety of our military personnel when we start insulting our allies.  Are we not putting them in harm’s way unnecessarily?

Why are we not concerned with the safety of our veterans – many who find themselves homeless, hopeless, addicted, and many completing suicide?  Granted, this has been going on for many years.  But it certainly hasn’t improved in the last two years.  It continues as it did before.  We are really good at taking a civilian and making them into a soldier to do things that most people would never want to do, nor should have to do.  We are terrible about taking that soldier and making them into a civilian again and giving them the support they need.  Too often we toss them aside once our leaders are done using them for their dirty work.  We don’t honor them, we scapegoat them.  What does it say about a country and it’s concern for safety when we have private organizations that are dedicated to helping homeless veterans.  Homeless veterans – let those two words sink in.  Why are any veterans homeless at all?  Is this how we treat those who are most loyal to the country – who gave up years of their lives and risked their lives, for the country and what it supposedly stands for?  This is how they are repaid.  Lost, hopeless, forgotten, and in the way.  And we are supposed enjoy the pomp and circumstance of flag waving?

And we claim to be concerned about safety and civility?  What part of any of these actions is civilized or safe?  Or patriotic?  Or following Christ?

Why are we more concerned with the safety of some privileged people who don’t want to be uncomfortable or inconvenienced, rather than the safety of all – including those considered to be “others” by those same privileged people?

We have a serious problem in our nation.  A sickness that is getting worse.  A disease that is spreading.  But it is not new.  It has been operating under the surface for a while, but now is full-blown – no shame.  And we aren’t taking any medication for it.  Instead we are feeding it.  We are lying to ourselves and saying that we feel great again.

In reality, we are advancing towards our own death and cheering loudly for it.  If we continue, we will reach a point that we become terminal. And I’m not even sure we’ll have the benefit of hospice care at that point.  We’ll get what we deserve – to be thrown out with the trash.  That’s where we are headed if we continue on this course.

Prophecy isn’t about having some kind of special knowledge from God.  It’s looking at where we have been, where we are, and seeing what’s next if the course does not change.

Prophecy is not set in stone though.

This doesn’t have to be the course we continue on.  Realize that not everyone will be onboard with a course correction.  Many will resist.  Some will become violent.  So be it.

I for one am not interested in continuing on this path.

Here are some vital questions we need to ask ourselves – do we really believe in the ideals of this nation that we claim to believe?  Or are they just nice things that sound good when the times are alright?

Or were those ideals made for a time such as this?

Christians, do you really believe Jesus?  Do you believe his call to serve the poor, to welcome the stranger, to love your neighbors and enemies?  Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount?  Or is Jesus full of it?  Are they just nice things that sound good when the times are alright?

Or are Jesus’ teachings made for a time such as this?

Is your faith from God?  And do you believe that God is love and that Love is God’s way?  Then love is the only way to proceed.  Love all people and God’s creation.  There is no other option.  There are no valid excuses for dehumanizing people, for caging children, for causing anxiety among entire groups of people, for creating fear.  These are not things of God.  Anger and fear are not the way of Christ.

God is love.  Love is the only way.  Let us live that love.  If your top priority is safety and by that it means devaluing, dehumanizing, restricting freedom, and fearing, then you are way off the path of love.  You are invited to come back to the path.  The way is narrow, but it is worth it.  You will not be alone.  There is forgiveness, mercy, grace, peace, and joy on this path.  It isn’t safe, but it is thriving life.  When our primary focus is safety, we are only looking to survive.  When our primary focus is love, then we will thrive.

 

Love is the only way

23 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Theology

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It is easy to get distracted.  It’s easy to get pulled away.  Oh so often have I fallen away, being drug back to a way of politics and partisanship – a way that doesn’t lead to life.  Rather it leads to competition, compliance, demand, division, separation, anger, fear, and so much more.  All of these things pull at me time and time again.  Oh so often have I succumbed to them.  They are a hard task master – a way that demands things from its followers.  A way that is heavy.  A way that beats down all who are not strong.

But this is not the way of Christ.  Love is the only way.

As I have struggled through this week over everything surrounding immigration, the separation of children from parents, the comments in response, the rhetoric, the stories, and more, I have wandered in what feels like a haze.  I have felt the grasp of fear and anger all around.  Anxiety has made its home in the pit of my stomach.

My heart has broken over and over again.  I have gone through a range of emotions – not all of them healthy.  I have been angry at those who seem blinded to the plight of the refugee seeking asylum.  I have wondered why people can’t see their plight.

Why do Christians, those who claim to follow Christ and all he taught, seem blind to the plight of other human beings?  To turn our backs on those who suffer?  To block out the humanity of the most vulnerable?  To turn our backs on the least of these – our brothers and sisters.

My anger is gone now.  My sorrow flows freely though.  I am sad for the refugees.  But my heart breaks even more for this nation and the people who are gripped by fear and anger.  My heart rips open for those who live by fear and anger.  Fear and anger consume so many and consume our nation.  And when words fail to settle our differences, when words fail to bring calm, then fear and anger will lead to violence.  And my heart breaks more.

My heart breaks over and over.  And I am reminded that love is the only way.  Fear leads to death.  Anger leads to death.  Love is the only way to life.

We are called to love.  Not cheap love – very costly love.  Love isn’t about being right and convincing others to follow along.  Love sees no enemies – only fellow children of God.  We are called to love our neighbors.   We are called to love our enemies.  We are called to love refugees and strangers.   We are called to love the most vulnerable.  We are called to love those that we fear the most.

Love is vulnerable.  Love is risky.  Love is uncontrollable.  Love is costly.

Jesus asks the disciples in Mark 4 “Why are you afraid?” He asks us this same question at this moment in history.  He asks us why we are afraid of refugees.  Jesus asks us, not to gain political points.  Not to get voters in a political party.  Jesus asks us why we are afraid because we have lost sight of him and his way – love.  Love is the only way.  Nothing else matters.  Nothing else will survive.  Nothing else will change the world.

Do we believe Jesus?  Do we believe Jesus’ way?  Or do think that it is just a bunch of nice ideas that can never really work?  Now is the time to show what we truly believe.  The old hymn tells us that “they will know we are Christians by our love.”  Now is the time Christian.  Now is the time to live by love.  Because love is the only way.

Force, strength, control, walls, violence, separation, rhetoric – none of these can ever conquer the world.  None of these can change the world.  None of these are the way of Christ.  None of these will last.  Love is the only way.

And so I love the refugees and my heart breaks for them.  I love the border guards who are doing their duty and my heart breaks for them.  I love the vocal defenders and those who willingly dehumanize children sent to cages and my heart breaks for them.  I love Jeff Sessions and my heart breaks for him.  I love Donald Trump and my heart breaks for him.  This is a painful love.  But it is the only way that I know to go forward.  It is the only way that has not been tried.  It is the only way to really follow Christ.

Love is the only way.

Simple answers

22 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Theology

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I have struggled with our national immigration system all week – or rather the implementation of it.  I’ve seen the pictures, heard the audio, from refugee seekers and those in detention facilities.  I’ve heard supporters carrying out the law.  I’ve heard the president shift from saying that his hands were tied to signing an executive order changing the situation.  I’ve read numerous accounts about what the law and policy is and is not – none really agreeing with each other – the same goes for the executive order.

I’ve found the policy to be immoral at its core, but at the same time, I think that’s simplistic.

It’s easy to complain and point fingers and to scapegoat.  I’ve seen plenty of that on social media. Heck, I’m willing to admit that I’m just as guilty.  Being right feels good after all.  Being able to point a finger and blame someone and label them as wrong, evil, or immoral feels really good.  And we as a nation are really good at that.

And it’s exhausting.  And it doesn’t end.  And we’ll be exactly where we are next week, only on some other divisive issue that will cause the nation to be divided, to point fingers, and to throw labels around.

I’m tired of it.  But I’m not quitting.  I will speak up – but hopefully in a different way.  Will I fail – most likely, I’m a broken and sinful person.  I have my opinions and ideas.  I have my biases and worldviews.

And like the disciples in the boat this Sunday, I’m sure I’ll be distracted by the storms of life, rather than focused on Jesus who is in the boat with me.  I’ll keep asking “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And Jesus won’t answer.  He won’t answer because that’s the wrong question.  The better question comes from Jesus – “Why are you afraid?”  Ouch.

Good question Jesus?  I don’t have a good answer to that question.  But maybe I can start to ask that question to myself and others.  To really hear people where they are – what they fear.  To hear what they place as their identities.  To voice my own fears.  To really connect with people in a vulnerable way.

We want simple answers to these challenges that we face.  I heard plenty simple answers: “Just follow the law” “The Republicans can change the law anytime” The Democrats passed it – it’s their fault” “The Administration decided to carry this out six weeks ago” “Democrats didn’t care about this before six weeks ago.”  And back and forth it goes.  Until we get to the next issue that where the arguments are not really any different and people are forced to choose sides in the battle of partisanship.

And like the disciples in the boat, we are missing the more important question – Why are we afraid?

Are we afraid because we know that our memes, and tweets, and one-liners, and insults, are as empty as they sound?  Are we afraid because we know that our simple solutions aren’t solutions at all – but rather blunt objects meant to cause damage to our opponents and enemies?  Are we afraid because we don’t know the answers and we don’t like not knowing? Are we afraid because deep down we know we are not in control?  Are we afraid because the answers might require us to change?  Are we afraid because if we became vulnerable with each other, we might actually learn that we are more alike than we thought – not just political opponents, but refugees, law enforcement, people with different skin colors, people who speak a different language, Democrats, Republicans, Hillary, Trump.  Whoa!

It’s easy to offer simple solutions.  It’s easy to attack and divide.  It’s easy to dehumanize and devalue people.  It’s easy to do this either as an attack on someone or a group and it’s easy to fall into this for defense.  It’s so easy that often we don’t realize we are doing it and then what?

Right now I’m reading a book called “Living without Enemies” by Samuel Wells and Marcia Owen.  Yes, living without enemies.  The premise is that we don’t get to choose who is our enemy – we aren’t God.  And God sees everyone as a Child of God.  Because we claim to follow God, then we are to see the world the way God sees the world – God empowers us to do that.  And to God, there are no enemies.

One of the key ideas in this book is Being With.  It’s the theology of presence.   Not coming up with answers, because sometimes there are no answers.  When I sit with a family who’s 28-year-old son is dying, there are no answers.  There is nothing I can say that will change the situation.  All I can do is be present, to sit with them in their sorrow, their grief, their questions, their anger, their doubts, their fears.  That’s it.

There are no simple answers to our immigration system.  That doesn’t mean we sit idly by and do nothing.  I think the only way we will ever be effective is to start by being present with each other.

In silence there are no answers, only companionship.  There are no explanations, only humility.  There is no blame, only common humanity.  But that silence takes discipline, self-knowledge and many years of practice, because it runs counter to a great many instincts and social conventions.  Often we want to speak because we don’t want to feel.  And sometimes we speak to try to stop people from feeling.

(Living without Enemies, pg. 78)

Let’s start with Jesus and his question for the disciples – “Why are you afraid?”  We may not have an answer, just like the disciples.  So let’s sit with that for a while.  Let’s sit together and admit we are afraid and we don’t know why.  Let’s just sit together and be afraid.  It’s as good as any starting point that I know of.  It’s not a simple answer to the challenges we face.  But it’s the start of something different.  I want something different.  Don’t you?  Or would you rather wait until the next outrage happens and revert back to the same thing of seeking simple answers that don’t exist?

Is legality the highest value?

20 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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I have a question for those who believe that fulfilling the law is of utmost importance.

Imagine it is 1861 and you live in Maryland.  A fugitive slave family has escaped slavery in the South.  They come onto your land and seek safe passage.  You encounter them.

What do you do?

Do you fulfill the law of the land that states that a fugitive slave shall be returned to their masters – knowing that this will lead to severe punishment, possibly death, and maybe even the separation of families?  Or do you give safe passage to the family on their journey to freedom, thus disobeying the law because you recognize it as immoral and destructive?  Or do you do something else?

It’s easy to point out the differences in this situation with the current immigration mess.  It’s easy to make excuses and dismiss the example I provided.  In fact, it’s easy to decide to see the world in black and white – to separate things into issues and people’s lives and believe that the two are not related – missing the messiness of the impact of this way of thinking on people’s lives.  But are you willing to answer the question given your current logical reasoning?  Are you willing to be the one who enforces this law?  If not, why not?  It’s not your job?  That’s a cop-out.  Are you willing to take a look at how the situations are similar?  To be uncomfortable?  Are you willing to be consistent in your thinking that the obeying and fulfilling the law is of utmost importance – regardless of the morality of the law?

Or how about this situation – you are Jew in Bethlehem during the reign of King Herod – the ruler of the land you reside in.  Herod declares that all male babies two years old or younger shall be killed.  The reasoning doesn’t matter.  You have a one year old.  Would you willingly hand over your child to the soldiers in order to fulfill and obey the law and the governing authorities?  What if you didn’t have a child, but you knew a traveling family passing through did?  Would you turn them in?  Why?  Or would you do what you had to do to disobey this decree in order to save the life of your child or any child?

Now imagine you are a refugee, or even just an immigrant from Central America.  Seriously, put yourself in their just a small section of their shoes.  And don’t give me the nice neat answer of “I would obey the law and follow the rules.”  You are still thinking from the safety of your life.  Imagine that the situation in your own country is not good.  Your family is in danger if they stay – you and your family could end up dead.  You decided to leave and make a journey north to America – a land known as a place of opportunity.  While so much is unknown, you determine that it has to be better than where you are right now.  You make the trip and get to the border.  What you do is illegal, but staying within the law means almost certain death.  What do you do?  What do you hope will happen?

It’s not so easy when we move past black and white thinking is it?  It’s rather messy.  Life is messy.  Law does not equal morality.  This isn’t an argument for lawlessness.  This is an argument about the morality of certain laws and what we are supposed to obey when those laws are suspect or outright immoral – regardless of who passed them or when.  This isn’t an argument about Republicans and Democrats – of who should get the blame.  That doesn’t resolve anything and is a distraction.

What we are dealing with is a difference of image – not the skin deep images of celebrity and consumerism.  No, deeper images – ones that define and shape who we are.

Is our national image shaped by this and what it stands for:

illegal_alien_border-550x275

Or this and the poem which is associated with it:

statue_of_liberty_paris_001

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

(Source: the New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, 1883)

Which image will we embrace?

The first image is an image of the law – cold, heartless, and concerned with security, safety, and control for some.

The second image is an image of risk, welcome, and uncertainty for all.

We can do so many things that try to make us more secure, safer, and give us the false sense of control over our lives.

The disciples in this coming Sunday’s Gospel passage are all on board with that.  They are in the sea, in a boat.  And there is a great storm brewing.  They are scared and they seek safety.  They wake Jesus up because they feel insecure and unsafe.  They are not in control.  They worry about the bad things that will happen to them.  And they ask Jesus, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38, NRSV).

Jesus doesn’t answer their question.  He doesn’t give the answer they want – “of course I don’t want you to perish.”  Nope.  He doesn’t say anything.  Hardly comforting.  Later he will call on his disciples to pick up their cross and follow him, to deny themselves.  To die.

Yet, death does not have the final say.  After Jesus calms the storms around the boat, he asks the disciples these questions – Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?

These are deep questions for us.  And they are Gospel too.  Why are we afraid?  What do we fear?  Do we believe that Jesus walks with us – with all of us?  Do we believe that Jesus walks with these refugees too?  Or is Jesus just reserved for us on this side of the wall?

What does it mean to follow Jesus?  What does it mean to love our neighbors?  To welcome the stranger?  When have we been strangers and been rejected?

What is Jesus calling us to?

Have you still no faith?  Guess what – we can’t have enough faith on our own.  If it’s about us and our faith, what we know about God, our safety, our security, our control – then we’ll just end up failing and dead.

Faith is a gift from God.  It comes to us because we can’t go to it.  Faith isn’t just head knowledge, but it moves through us and causes us to respond.  To pick up our cross and follow Jesus.  Especially in the storms of life.  When there is danger all around us.  Faith moves us forward – in risk, in welcome, and in uncertainty.  Faith means we are not in control and we aren’t going to fool ourselves into believing we are.  We are safe, but in a different way – we are in God’s hands. That regardless what happens to us, God will not forget us.  And God offers us a promise – resurrection.  New life.  Transformed life.  Changed life.  Risky life.  Invitational life.  Life.

The Weakest and Most Vulnerable

19 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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I’m struggling with the implementation of the immigration policy that has resulted in the separation of approximately 2000 children from their parents.  I’m struggling for a variety of reasons.

First, that we have a law that allows for this to happen and that this law has been the law of the land for several years.  I had no idea that this was the law.  It is immoral.  These are not violent criminals we are talking about.  Often these are asylum seekers – people who left places because their life was in danger only to find the life of their families in danger by coming here.

Why? Because we have to carry out the laws?  Except our government has never carried out all of our laws.  The current administration previously stated that it would not carry out the laws related to Obamacare.  So why this law and not that one?

I’m struggling with the Attorney General citing the Bible, all with a smile, as a justification for carrying out this law.  This is the same reasoning that tyrants have used throughout history to gain compliance from people.  It is the same reasoning that the South used to support the laws of slavery.  And it’s completely out of context – using the Bible as a weapon of mass destruction, rather than something that is life-giving.

I’m struggling with other things that go beyond this one decision.  Why is it that children are always the ones to suffer from immoral policies?  Is it because they are truly powerless?

Immigration laws that separate families make no sense.  Unless we are using children as a pawn, a deterrent.  But why are the powerless used at all?  Are they pawns in a game or human beings?

Shootings at schools go on and children die – the least and the powerless suffer.  And they are used in a debate about the laws pertaining to guns – what should be legal and what should not.  Any action is held hostage to the whims of those with power.  And we wait for the next shooting and the body count that will go with it.  It’s just a number after all.  And we aren’t serious about an actual change if it has financial (fundraising) implications, or forces the powerful to acknowledge the least among us – or give voice to them as if they matter.

Why is it that the youngest, the most defenseless, are the ones that always suffer at the hands of the powerful?

While abortion is a topic that is extremely divisive to even bring up, the least and most vulnerable suffer.  Regardless of your stand on abortion – the legality of it – can you see that there are victims in this tragic decision?  The tragedy starts well before the final act and leaves emotional scars the we are not open to offering healing, forgiveness, or help that might change lives, rather than end them.  Instead we offer shame and demand silence of the women who suffer, forcing them to continue to be punished and alone.  After all there is a whole lot of money to be made from this divisive issue – campaign funds are easier to come by from controversial and emotional issues after all.  The women and who they carry become pawns in a fundraising scheme for the decision makers.

Why are the least and the powerless, the most vulnerable, used as pawns?

There are no simple answers to this.  And it is not new.

King Herod was upset about a child being born – the newborn King of the Jews.  Someone who he thought would usurp his power.  So he had to strike.  And strike he did – at the least and the most vulnerable – children.  He slaughtered all the male babies two years old and younger.

The least and the most vulnerable suffer at the hands of the powerful.  Always.

Do the powerful fear children so much that they are willing to kill them?  According to history that seems to be the case.  Power is a hungry idol that demands human sacrifice.

Do the powerful fear the most vulnerable that they are willing to allow terrible things to happen to them?  Apparently.  Power is such that is lonely and has no use for koinonia (community).  It only believes in the self.

Do the powerful fear the children that they are willing to enforce an immoral law?  It wouldn’t be the first.  Nor will it be the last.

And the good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way.  None of it has to.  None of this is set in stone.  Laws can change.  It really isn’t that difficult.  What is difficult is the will to change – the will to empower the powerless.

God presents an alternative to this way of life – not just for us individually, but as a society and how we govern.  God’s way isn’t a top-down, do this or else, type of way of governing.  God is a bottom-up God.  God is one who is incarnate and walks with the least and the most vulnerable.  We see this in the example of Jesus.  God isn’t just a God of Law, but also of Gospel – Good News.  That the captives will be set free.  That the hungry will be fed.  That the last shall be first.

I believe in a different way for this world.  A way that is guided by the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes.  A way that is guided by Jesus command to tend to the least and the most vulnerable.  A way this guided by both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures that call on us to love our neighbors, our enemies – all people.  A way that is summed up in two words – Koinonia (Community) and Shalom (Wholeness).  A way that isn’t interested in using force to get its way, but lives by something else that Paul wrote

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

(1 Corinthians 13:1-13, NRSV)

Our world doesn’t have to be this way.  God offers us an alternative – one that is actually unfolding before us.  God invites us to participate in this unfolding.  God gives us the faith to participate in it.

Sometimes it can be difficult to see this way unfolding.  But thankfully, as we were reminded this Sunday – We walk by faith, and not by sight.

Let us walk in the way of the Lord, not in the way of the powerful.  Their way doesn’t work.  It never has.  It always leaves a trail of suffering and death.

There is an alternative.  The path is set before us.  Let us take this path.  Let us walk together and not look back.

Should we return the Statue of Liberty?

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in Politics

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Should we return the Statue of Liberty to France?  We don’t seem interested in using it or what it stands for lately.

According to the National Park service:

What does the torch represent? The torch is a symbol of enlightenment. The Statue of Liberty’s torch lights the way to freedom showing us the path to Liberty. Even the Statue’s official name represents her most important symbol “Liberty Enlightening the World”.

(Source: Click here)

Of course, I’m asking a ridiculous question in order to talk about an important issue – immigration.

Immigration has been a divisive issue since people started coming to this continent from other continents – whether by choice or by force.

Over the decades different groups of people have been looked down upon and degraded because of where they are from, what language they spoke, what they looked like, and what they believed.  And yet, people still come.

One of the reasons they keep coming is the hope for a better life that is expressed in the sonnet that has been associated with the Statue of Liberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

(Source: Click here)

What does it mean to give us “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.  The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.”  This is an important question in the current immigration debate.  We hear some make the arguments that we only want wealthy, successful, and well-educated people.  Yet, how does that match up with the sonnet?  Of course the sonnet isn’t the law of the land.  And neither is the Statue of Liberty for that matter.  But it is symbolic of what we supposedly stand for.

So what about illegal immigration.  Let’s get right to it.  I don’t need to rehash all the arguments that have been made about illegal immigration.  You’ve heard and read many of them and may have even used them in arguments about immigration.

I know that facts don’t persuade people anymore, but just in case you actually care about the numbers of illegal immigrants in the country and where they are from, you can read the Pew Research information from last year.  http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/ It’s got lot’s of good information about how illegal immigration is changing in the US.

If facts aren’t your thing, then maybe you’ll consider stories.  The BBC ran a pretty good eight minute video on the consequences of the recent immigration enforcement.  You can watch it here.

I don’t pretend to have the answer to illegal immigration.  I see it as very complex.  It’s not a cut and dry issue for me.  It’s not just an issue of someone breaking the law, so send them back.  If you read the Pew findings, the obvious question will be – send them back where?  For many illegal immigrants, they don’t have a home anywhere else.  There isn’t a home or family just waiting for them.  Are we going to deport people to places they know nothing about?  Are we going to send people into homelessness and destitution, to places that persecute people because of religion and political identity?  Is that what our we are about?

Should we replace the Statue of Liberty and the sonnet associated with it with something else – a guy carrying a sign that says “Keep Out!”

Maybe I’m confusing things though.  Those that are opposed to illegal immigration aren’t claiming to be against all immigration – but rather that the rules be followed to enter the country.  I think there is some truth in this.  Yet, we have a problem.  We have millions of people who have entered the country illegally.  What do we do with them?  The short answer is I don’t know.

The longer answer is that if we attempt to deal with immigration as a separate concern, apart from any other issue, we will fail.  Immigration isn’t a stand alone issue.  No issue is stand alone.  It’s complex and deals with people and their lives.  While I don’t have political solution to this, I do know this much – we are called to welcome the stranger, to offer hospitality.  To be Christ’s presence in their lives.  To proclaim good news to the poor, the homeless, the lost, the widow, the orphan – the very people the sonnet offer a welcome to and call out to come to these shores for a better opportunity.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

If we aren’t careful, the sonnet will be meaningless because of our own doing.

Miracle Mile

11 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Society, Theology

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There is a stretch of road in the community I live and work in that is called the Miracle Mile.  According to Wikipedia (as good a source for this as anything else I found):

“The stretch of US 11 between I-76 and I-81 is known as the “Miracle Mile” since it contains plenty of traveler services including restaurants, gas stations, lodging, truck stops, shops, etc. There is no direct interchange between the two interstates, so travelers must use this stretch, or travel through downtown Carlisle, to get from one interstate to the other.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_11_in_Pennsylvania

The more common explanation I have heard regarding the name is that it got its name because it’s a miracle if you can get through the mile because of the traffic.  There’s some truth to that, but there’s plenty of exaggeration too.  Having lived in Washington, DC, even the Miracle Mile doesn’t see traffic like downtown DC or NYC.

Regardless of the reason for the name, it’s the name that this stretch of road has.

And it’s the stretch of road that also has a variety of people who are considered outcasts, expendable, unworthy, and worse.  It’s the stretch of road where there is homelessness, drug addiction, prostitution, sex and human trafficking, and immigration issues, among other challenges.  It’s the Miracle Mile – a place where it’s a miracle that people can drive through this stretch of road and completely ignore what happens there.  It’s a miracle that people can keep a blind eye to what goes on.

But what if that could change?  What if the Miracle Mile was known for something else – where miracles happen.

That’s what I think it can become.

That’s what God is calling on us to do.  To live out our faith, to create an environment where people can encounter Jesus and have their lives changed.  That would be a miracle.  To gather churches of different denominations together, agencies that deal with all sorts of challenges, businesses, etc.  All coming together to tackle the pervasive challenges that haunt the Miracle Mile.

What if the Miracle Mile were a miracle in our midst?  Not a miracle in the sense that you can get through it, but rather that it’s a miracle because people’s lives are changed – for the better.

Jesus is quoted as saying the following:

35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 40And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

(Matthew 25:35-40)

What if the miracle that God has in mind is right here in our midst? That those who are imprisoned in human trafficking, homelessness, and drug addiction are set free.  That those who are hungry are fed and the thirsty are given a drink of life-giving water.  That those who are widowed and alone have true companionship and community, that those who lack clothing are clothed, that those who are children would be loved and cared for, That those who are strangers are welcomed with hospitality, that those who have lost their humanity and dignity will have it restored.

That is the vision of what a miracle looks like.  That is what it means to live out the faith that we have been given.  That is what the kingdom of God looks like in our midst.  It’s not some distant, far off thing that we read about in the Bible.  It’s right here, just waiting to be unleashed.  And God is tapping us on the shoulder and saying, it’s time – it’s time for a miracle. It’s time for the Miracle Mile to be a miracle.

What do you think about…

13 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by in Politics, Society, Theology

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“What do you think about….”

That’s how the conversation started.  I was standing at the back of the church, as I always do, welcoming people as they came in.  One of the members of the congregation came in the door and said “What do you think about this whole immigration business.”  I wasn’t quite mentally ready for such a question.  I was expecting a “hello” first.  But that’s the way life is sometimes.

So I stammered a little bit, caught off guard.  “I…uh…well…” I was forming thoughts in my head but they weren’t ready to come out yet.  That’s when I stopped and realized, I have no idea what I was walking into.  So instead I responded by saying “Why do you ask?”

The gentleman proceeded to express his opinion about the matter, expressing fears that he had and questions that probably have no answer.  I just listened.  I felt compassion for him and I acknowledged the concerns that he had.

I don’t think he really wanted to hear my thoughts on immigration.  I think he needed someone to listen to him and the concerns and fears that he had.  In the end I never expressed what I thought about immigration.  It wasn’t necessary for me to.

But do I think about divisive issues we face in our country.  Issues like abortion, gay marriage, taxes, immigration, defense, the environment, foreign policy, the judiciary, etc.?

I have thoughts about each of these, but I’m coming to realize a few things – I’m a bit surprised by how long it has taken me to realize this.  I think that if we assume changing one law or policy is going to change the situation, we are fooling ourselves.

These issues are far more complicated than just having the proper law or policy.  There is no silver bullet that will solve all of our problems, even for one issue.

I think we place far too much trust and hope in our politicians and system of government to come up with the solutions to the problems we face.  I think we shift responsibility onto them to solve our problems for us.  That way we can either experience vicarious victory because they did what we like, or we get to whine and moan because they didn’t.

I think the more importance we place on our national political leaders, the further detached we are from the solutions.  I think we ceded our responsibility to act when we see an injustice around us or we expect someone else to help someone in need.  It’s their responsibility after all – that’s why we pay taxes right?

I think we think our role in society is to voice an opinion on every issue we are presented with and have a firm answer.  It’s what we expect of our elected officials to do, don’t we?

I think we think too short term because our attention spans are minuscule.  So many of these issues are long term and deal with historical trends, culture, and so much more – they are very complicated.  Yet we seem to expect that they can be reduced down to something so simple and clear.

I think we place our faith at the foot of partisan loyalties.  When the reverse should be true.

I think we forget that there are more options than just either being for something or against something.

Let’s take one complicated issue for example – abortion.  What do I believe about Roe v. Wade.  Am I for the law or want it overturned?  I think we spend far too much time fighting over the legality, rather than actually dealing with the situation.  I want to get society to a point where it doesn’t matter what the law is because we’ve changed society so that abortion isn’t even needed.  I want there to be unconditional support and love for mothers and their children so that whatever needs they have, they are taken care of. I want us to do that because we actually follow through on our belief that life is precious and to be cared for.  I want there to be a situation where our culture changes to support life at all stages because this is what we believe.  This requires a change in the whole culture though – from entertainment, to insurance, to health care, to work, to pay, to neighborhoods, to taxes, to everything else.  I think it’s real easy to sit around and debate a law and expect that a law is going to change people just because the law changes.  I think it’s far more difficult, but more worthwhile to see a change in our culture.  Maybe I’m just ignorant, but I see this as what we are called to.  I don’t think we are called to place all hope and salvation in the law.  Should we have laws, sure.  Should they change – if that will actually help.  Should we place more trust and hope in them than they deserve, no.  The law is just one piece of the puzzle.  Maybe it’s a start.  But so often it seems like once the law has changed the clamor for the issue at hand vanishes.  We changed a law, all of our problems must be solved.

I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t do anything on these issues because they are too big.  Instead, I’m arguing that the law is just one piece, one part.  And honestly, I’m not convinced it is the most important part.  How we live and interact is far more important I think. That goes beyond a law or policy.

Ellis Island

04 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by in Travel

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When you make the trip to the Statue of Liberty, you always end up at Ellis Island – the island that is now a museum.  It’s the site of where all immigrants coming to the US by boat through NYC came through.

Every one of them went through this hall when it was in operation:

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Over the years, this hall had many transformations, no different than our country has had transformations.  There were pictures of what looked like cattle stalls, benches, a stage and music, and finally abandonment.

I can only imagine what the building was like when it was at the height of its use.  You can almost hear all the varying languages.  You can almost see all the people, jammed in together hoping beyond hope to be able to stay.  You can almost smell the worry of people who came with only the shirt on their back not knowing what they would do if they did make it in.

One of the exhibits in he building tells some of the immigrants stories through the materials that came with them.  It’s quite fascinating. Here’s one shot from the exhibit.

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I chose this one because the copper pot is from Finland and well, Finland holds a special place in my heart.

In the building, there are other things that are marked, but I doubt most people even come close to realizing the significance.  Things like this stairway:

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On it’s own, you would never know that it is anything special.  There’s a marker on the side at the bottom of the steps.  It’s called the Stairway of Separation.

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Feel the tension from that description.

In many ways, Ellis Island is still a valid analogy for the United States.

Quote

24.06.2014 The…

25 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Finland

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24.06.2014 The decision regarding your application has been made. The authority concerned will contact you.

This is what I saw when I logged into the Finnish Immigration’s website to check on the status of our residence permit applications.  Talk about nerve-racking.  A decision has been made, but I’m sitting around waiting to see what the decision is.  I guess it needs to be in some sore of official letter or something.

I’m thinking that the decision is a positive one though.  We submitted the application.  Finns looked at it and asked for some supplemental information that involved some Apostille certifications.  I found out what an Apostille certification is, got what was needed and submitted the information with the proper certification.  The next day, the website tells me that a decision was made.  That should be good news right?

It should, yet my human nature is getting the best of me right now as I anxiously await what the decision is.  I know doing some exercise will help – it will keep my mind off of suspense.