Dear Friends,

There is a great deal of emotional turmoil and anger going on about what is happening at the border. I’m wondering if I can tell you a bit about my political and spiritual journey and how it relates to what is happening today.

In 2008, I voted for John McCain, against Obama, because I could not stomach Obama’s stance on late-term abortions. Or just abortions in general. I was pregnant with Jack and was very aware that his little body inside of mine was not my body that I could do anything with I chose. Voting against Obama was a one-issue vote for me.

And we know that Obama won. I actually rejoiced even though I voted against him. I was moved that our country put a black man in the White House. I celebrated that this step was taken towards racial reconciliation and hoped that we as a country could stand behind him, our president.

I was very optimistic.

A little over a year after Jack was born, we as a family were in a situation where we needed to buy independent health insurance. Tim was in school and working part time. I was working part time. Neither of us had employer provided care. So I filled out the application, honestly sharing our health history. My ongoing treatment for depression. Jack’s experience with RSV and the need for a nebulizer.

Jack and I were both rejected for health insurance.

I couldn’t believe a 15 month old baby was rejected because of a virus he had when he was 5 months old. A virus that 1 in 4 babies have and need similar treatments for.

We were able to get insurance through a state insurance agency that existed for this very purpose – for people like us who had been rejected for pre-existing conditions. We were on this insurance when I was pregnant with Ben and when he was born. Our out of pocket costs for that pregnancy and birth were ten times the amount that we had paid when Jack was born. To say that we struggled financially was an understatement. I followed the Dave Ramsey snowball program for paying off debt and it took us over 2 years to pay it off.

During this time I began to notice and see the words conservatives used to describe people who were poor.

Lazy.

Not working.

Taking advantage of state aid.

Meanwhile we were working harder than we ever had in our life, were dependent on state aid, and were still not making ends meet.

To say this changed something in me is an understatement.

I know Obamacare isn’t perfect, but when it came along it made a huge difference in our lives financially.

***

I was studying the biblical prophets in my personal time. During seminary I had taken a course about the prophets and the history of Israel. I learned that one of the reasons the Israelites were exiled was because the took advantage of the poor while they grew rich. They mistreated the foreigner, the aliens among them. Though they offered sacrifices to God, they did not stand up for the oppressed. They did not take care of the widows and orphans. They did not treat foreigners in the land as if they were citizens of the land, as the law required. People in authority took bribes in courts and on the streets. In other words, they looked out for their own interests over the interests of the innocent who were being tried for crimes they had not committed. They neglected to provide justice for the innocent and oppressed. (Amos 5:10-13)

It is because of this, God said to them:

I hate, I despise your religious festivals;

your assemblies are a stench to me.

Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them.

Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,

I will have no regard for them.

Away with the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

But let justice roll on like a river,

righteousness like a never-failing stream!(Amos 5:21-24; emphasis mine)

Amos stunned me the first time I read it. I could not believe that God would reject our worship. I could not believe that he would hate the religious festivals he had told his people to honor. That he would despise prayers, sacrifices, worship.

I read in James:

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. James 5:1-5; emphasis mine

Are we not the wealthiest country in the world?

Are we hoarding our wealth?

Over and over again throughout the prophets and in Jesus’ teachings I saw a call to watch out for the poor and marginalized. The widows and orphans. Those who are most likely to be taken advantage of. And, yes, the foreigners and aliens – those we would call immigrants today.

The Bible changed my worldview. It changed my understanding of who God is. He is not merely concerned that we are saying our prayers. God looks out for the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed in our society. He stands beside those who have less. He stands with those who are suffering. This is a hard teaching to swallow for those of us who have much. But I believe it is true.

Politically, I am no longer Republican. I am not Democrat. I instead am looking for the ones who are going to stand up for the poor. The refugees and immigrants. The people of color. The children.

source: pixabay

The truth is that immigrant workers take jobs we white middle class Americans would never take. They work back-breaking jobs farming our food, taking care of our elderly (bathing, cleaning their bed pans, providing daily needs), and working our fast food chains. They make minimum wage and if any immigration reform needs to happen it is being sure that people are not being paid less than that minimum wage, that they are being paid fairly. For God hears the cries of the wages for the poor which speak out against the wealthy.

It is a chilling thought.

If God hears the cries of unpaid wages, does he not hear the cries of the children in cages?

[Tweet “If God hears the cries of unpaid wages, does he not hear the cries of the children in cages?”]

This morning I read in my Bible Luke 9:46-48:

An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”

We have a desire to be a great nation, but at what cost? Jesus calls us to go low, to welcome the children, to serve them. He intentionally greeted a Samaritan woman, an alien who lived in Israel. She was considered mixed race to the Jewish people, unclean in their eyes. But Jesus told her who He was, inviting her to trust Him. Jesus taught and showed over and over again that to be the first, we must be the last. We need to love our enemies. Forgive sins eternally. Turn the other cheek. Looking out for others’ interests before our own.

Yet I fear that when it comes to politics, we Christians have made a huge compromise in this area. We argue for truth and forget the mercy that Jesus shows us.

***

Right now people are angry.

I am actually furious, gutted, disheartened.

But I am trying to keep my cool and be calm and ask you, do you not hear the children crying?

Do you believe that God is truly on our side in the case of these families who are being separated?

Yes our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus, but that does not mean we can keep sinning and inflicting cruelty on others (Rom 6:1).

I plead with you to take a stand against the current establishment’s decision to have a zero tolerance policy for families seeking asylum in the United States. These are families who are trying to escape the violence that is at home, hoping for the good will of a rich nation. They have left everything. I just keep thinking it must be really bad at home if they are willing to lose everything they had in the hopes that they can find a new place here.

We live so sheltered. We have struggles, yes. But we also have opportunity. These people have none. They see their only opportunity as one to risk their lives and the lives of their children.

And they have been met with trauma.

Here are some facts as I have gathered them:

  • First time illegal entry into the US is a misdemeanor offense, which does not require prosecution, but adults are now being prosecuted with “zero tolerance” source
  • Because of this prosecution, children are being separated from their parents source
  • In the past 6 weeks, more than 2,000 chilrdren have been separated from their parents source
  • Adults caring for the held children are not allowed to comfort crying children source
  • The trauma of separation from parents can have lasting effects, causing health concerns into adulthood, not to mention social/emotional disorders. source and source
  • Parents are being deported while their children remain in the United States. source
  • Children as young as two years old are expected to represent themselves in immigration court. source and source
  • For more facts, I highly recommend this article. And pay attention, they keep coming in.

There are many ways we can help them.

First, call your state senators and representatives. There’s a brief script here. Tell them you believe families belong together. Tell them you believe in the importance of family and that no child should ever be separated from his father or mother.

Second, if you can, give. EDIT: 6/21/18 2:48pm I am updating this section to reflect a better list of ways to give as emailed to me by Welcome. The following is a copy and paste of their excellent suggestions:

World Relief- One of the organizations behind Welcome. They are currently raising money to help resettle refugees and are sending some of their staff immigration attorneys to the border to help families there.

KIND (Kids in Need of Defense)– Provides legal services to children going through immigrant proceedings.

Bethany Christian Services– Provides foster care services for unaccompanied minors and children separated from their parents.

ENLACE and the Association for a More Just Society are local Christian organizations in El Salvador and Honduras, that address the root causes of violence in Central America that is compelling many people to flee.

Finally, and as you do all of the other things, pray. Our God is a God who suffered. He knows what it is to suffer as He bore all of our sins on the cross. And He comforts those who mourn, those who are suffering. I believe in prayer we can relieve a bit of their pain.

Please don’t do nothing. Even if all you do is pray, I ask that you allow yourself to see this issue from a different light. To put yourself in the shoes of the mothers and fathers at the border. To consider that maybe being great isn’t worth the cost after all.

Bless you,

Leah