Loading...O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
I am about to make a series of deliberate political statements.
These statements are specifically in regard to the current immigration crisis heavily covered in the news this week. These statements are political as in the definition of politics: the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area.
The first political statement is that God governs and helps.
When I make my donation to the Kentucky Refugee Ministries I make it in honor of the family who provided refuge to me and my children when we needed ministry most. My sons and I lived in their basement and ate their groceries for six months. We lived under their roof and according to their rules. They answered the prayer we pray in the Collect today by giving my family both help and governance. During those six months I surely felt that, even in the midst of a personal storm, I had been set upon the sure foundation of God’s loving kindness.
There is a second part of the definition of politics which is where conversations can begin get a little uncomfortable. The second part of the definition states politics are especially associated with the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.
My second political statement is that Jesus is trustworthy even when his choices confuse us. Look at Mark’s gospel where a certain boating party is hoping to achieve power over their imperiled boat. But how does one govern the wind?
The disciples are in their boat, beaten and swamped with water in a windstorm. Perhaps they felt that seasick feeling in their stomachs that matches the lurching feeling in my stomach when I see images of children detained at the border. Maybe you’ve been in a helpless situation where your tummy feels a little nauseous. The disciples cannot achieve power over the windstorm. I cannot achieve power over the large and tangled scrum that is the current immigration crisis. But I can turn to the gospel of Mark and ask, “does Jesus care that we are perishing?” Or, “Where is Jesus?” He’s in the back, the bounciest part of a bouncing boat, asleep on a cushion. That’s where he has found a peace which indeed passes understanding. To be pushy about my point I will go all the way with, “Where is Jesus in the immigration crisis?” For you and me, Jesus is right here in Pewee Valley, 1,300 miles from the nearest border of Mexico. What on earth can Jesus possibly do from here?
The friends who took welcomed me into their home took on a family of three who were reeling from a traumatic journey of one very long and painful mile, confused by a sudden change in circumstances, and new to the language of loss. They never tried to solve the injustice of my situation, they never said a word about harboring us. They simply employed the resources at their disposal to reach out to the needy people who came to their doorstep.
I can never ever repay them, but I can pay it forward. So I spent two hours on the phone with my sorority sister whose husband works for the border patrol in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She gave me a couple of contacts including St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Las Cruces. At her recommendation I sent a bag of diapers to the Border Servant Corps which has a ministry out of Peace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces. That bag of diapers is not gonna save the world. But it’s my way of making a political statement about who saves and governs the world.
The third political statement is that God gives us one another to accomplish God’s plans and purposes in God’s life -- not in my life -- in God’s life. Many friends tell me God is in control. I fail to believe that. If God is in control then God is doing a lousy job controlling my cravings for chocolate and my child’s anxiety condition and our nation’s border crisis. God is not in control. God is in love. Love Governs. And to Love shall I be loyal.
Love writes the refugee and resettlement pages for prodigal sons who want to beg their father’s forgiveness. Love decides who is granted credible asylum from sin. Love builds a sanctuary city where the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. Love decides who qualifies as a potential productive citizen in a kingdom where the city charter is Blessed-are-the-Poor. Love is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency on the border between earth and heaven. It’s Love’s lawyer who lay in a tomb for three days to end negotiations with death once and for all. Love knows that my visa to heaven is a fraud without the sacrificial stamp of the blood of Jesus from the cross.
That $12 bag of diapers is one way I am claiming that I want to be part of a very tough conversation. I am putting a cold compress on the hot forehead of my moral outrage so I can commit to compassionate action instead of blathering about indignities with which everyone already agrees — that lonely and hurting children need comfort.
All my friends agree that they won’t talk about politics because they want to stay friends. I agree with that because it’s equitable. That’s also a waste of a good friendship. I care about the governance of my nation as much as you do. And I care about you. What you have to say is valuable and I want to listen to your viewpoint. If I can’t engage in civil discourse with you then why would I criticize my elected leaders for getting bogged down in rhetoric over incendiary issues.
So please, like Job, gird your loins, and talk to me about politics. The power achieved when we listen to one another can govern even the most unruly country or area. How do I know about that power? Because I have a human heart and it can be as unstable as Central America. Along my arduous journey I have been heard. And so I learned to listen, a power as mighty as Love.
We are smart enough, compassionate enough, and wealthy enough to sit down and say immigration is a need and a need that can be met. The national vehicle which meets those needs needs help. Maybe someone here has gifts in civic governance for that department. In the meantime, and in our personal governance within this room and this community, we can reach out to the refugee at arm’s reach: The one, any one, who may be fleeing hurt, any one seeking peace, any lonely and hurting child of any age seeking comfort in the windstorm.
All week I have been thinking that it feels like our nation is frozen in a kind of cold civil war and, “Where is Abraham Lincoln when our country needs him most?” He is dead but his words and his influence live on. That’s how many people talk about Jesus. “Where is Jesus when we need him most?” He’s not dead, he’s alive in us and given us the wherewithal to do his work. So let’s do it.
To give to
Kentucky Refugee Ministries
Border Service Corps
