- I believe in secure borders and that every nation has the right and responsibility to secure its own borders. I have traveled all over the world and if I don’t have the proper passport/visa, then I fully expect to be detained and jailed if I am trying to enter a country illegally. I am not debating that.
- The current immigration situation and political debate is important, but it is not the main thing right now when it comes to these children. Why have they come? What is President Obama’s responsibility? What happens if they stay? All of these questions are secondary. In some of my training on development work, I have learned that you have to differentiate between disaster response and development work. Disaster response is what you do when the hurricane or earthquake has hit. You help everyone you can and provide aid, food, shelter, and comfort. You don’t ask questions. You just help. Development work is what you do when there is an ongoing problem. You look for long-term solutions and you are careful not to create dependency. There is a completely different metric at work. The situation with the children at the border is “disaster” not “development.” The long term immigration problem is “development.” So, different problems lead to different solutions.
- We have to differentiate between the political debate in Washington over immigration and the actual children in need right now. News erupted today in Alabama that immigrant children were headed to Maxwell AFB in my city of Montgomery. The report proved to be premature, but response from many in Alabama was that we do not want them here. Our own Congresswoman Martha Roby released a statement saying that the children were not wanted under any circumstances at Maxwell. The question that I have for Congresswoman Roby is, “does caring for children in need temporarily pose a national security threat to America? Does it make our nation weaker or stronger?” She is representing the view of many of her constituents in Alabama who have made their voice heard today saying, “Send the children away! They are not our problem!”
- I am not suggesting that the children should stay in America or that they should never be sent home. Rep. Roby says that we should “send them home with care.” What does that mean? If Lackland AFB in Texas, where many of the children are, is overwhelmed (as are other facilities), then is it not caring for the children to put them in good environments for a time until we can figure out what to do with them? I do not think that they should just be unleashed upon America with no families or support structure, but should they not be compassionately cared for now, until we can find permanent solutions?
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his
right and the goats on his left.34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
The least of these are at our borders and Jesus says to us that what we do for them is what we do for Him. American Evangelicals have had a difficult year or two where the country has declared to us that we are not wanted and our religion is irrelevant. What if Jesus is giving us a chance to show that worshiping Christ changes us and causes us to not just think about our own “way of life,” but to also look after the interests of others? What if we are being given a chance to do “for one of the least of these” to demonstrate our love for Christ in a tangible way? Will we recognize the day of our visitation?
What if we are in an Isaiah 1:16-17 moment where God says to the people:
Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.17Learn to do right; seek justice.Defend the oppressed.Take up the cause of the fatherless;plead the case of the widow.
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
still need to be worked out. But, in the immediate situation of disaster, may the church be found serving Christ.
What would Jesus say about our attitude toward children in need? That is what matters.
Well said Alan,,,,
Very well stated, Alan. Thank you for taking a public stand on this and giving us all language to voice what many of us believe to be a Kingdom response.
ALAN, I could have written this post myself, it resonates so much with me.
God Bless you for telling the truth . . . from the comments so far on SBCvoices, it was much needed. I would have commented there but it is not permitted.
One additional thought:
Our Lord Himself was a child refugee in his infancy, as the Holy Family was granted sanctuary in Egypt at the time of Herod who massacred the male infants of Nazareth.
Concerning William’s ‘Rome’ comment, I would have commented this on SBCvoices, given the opportunity to do so:
“I think he means you sound like Catholic Christiane does sometimes when she hopes for people to care for those that are on the margins and who are outcasts . . . you have crossed the boundaries of ‘denomination’ and entered into the Kingdom of Our Lord and His provinces when you call for people to love those in need as He loved them, ALAN.
You are not ‘Catholic’, no . . . but you are ‘catholic’ in your pursuit of the advancement of the Kingdom of Our Lord and I thought myself that what William might have meant as a criticism was actually a sign of his recognition that you are not limited by his boundaries . . . perhaps that was the greatest compliment he could unknowingly give you, ALAN”