Immigrants

I become a little nervous when clergy delve into political matters. All too often we in the church have become captive to the values of culture when we have done this. Rather than the church being a shaper of culture the church has ended up being shaped by culture.

This is most dangerous as the church can surrender God’s mission for a human agenda.
Yet, there are times that the church must take a stand for what is moral and just. John Wesley, the founder of my denomination, considered works of justice and mercy as a means of grace. I believe that as our nation discusses the issue of illegal immigration that this is one of those times we must take a stand for what is moral and just.

One need not go very far to see that the demographic face of our community, nation and state is changing. The Hispanic community is growing rapidly among us. It is very unfair to make generalizations about an ethnic group but in this case I believe that we all can say that these persons for the most part have proven themselves to be a very hard working segment of our society.

Yet, quite frankly, their presence here is cause for alarm. No doubt many of these persons have entered the country illegally. They have established themselves here in violation of the laws of our nation.

We have to ask ourselves, “If these folk are here who else is here?” Has the next terrorist entered this country? Is there someone within our midst that is plotting to do harm to our nation? If these illegal immigrants can enter our country then we have to assume that those with ambitions far more sinister than a migrant farm laborer can also enter our country.

The primary obligation of government is to provide for the safety and to protect the rights of its citizens. If so many persons can enter our country illegally clearly the government is not doing its job. In order to ensure our safety our government has an obligation to secure our borders to prevent entry into this nation from those who would do us harm.

At the same time we as a society are called to be a compassionate people. In fact the scriptures call for us to have compassion to the “alien within our midst.” While we all can be easily angered by those who have flouted our laws the truth is that by and large these folk are in some ways worthy of our admiration. Imagine if you will, leaving your home and family to work a thankless job in a foreign country.

Hopefully, our leaders will find some compassionate way to allow these folk to be assimilated into our nation, and to become one of us. (Yes, that includes teaching them and having them learn the English language.)

Let us not forget that the desire for these folk to come to our country makes a powerful statement about the potential and possibilities that one finds in living in this great nation.

I recall, as I am sure many of you recall, when walls were built in other parts of the world to keep people IN the country. Life was so hopeless people were trying to find all sorts of ways to leave. In this country, on the other hand, we have to worry about keeping people out. This makes, I believe, a ringing endorsement of the way of life we have in this country.

No, life in our nation isn’t all that it should be. However, I doubt many if any of us would trade it to live anywhere else. As we debate the issue of illegal immigration we would all be wise to take the time to pause and thank God for our blessings as Americans.