Facebook Post on Immigration, October 19, 2024

 

Immigration has become a key issue in this presidential election…and there is a decidedly anti-immigration slant to much of the debate.  Both parties seem to be saying they want to slow and limit immigration.

Now, we do need secure borders for drug interdiction, to fight human trafficking, and block the entrance of people who would enter specifically to do us harm.  (A bi-partisan bill [conservative Republican senator James Lankford of Oklahoma was a key framer of the legislation] would have gone a long way to resolve the issue, but the bill was blocked earlier this year because certain people did not want to solve the issue but keep it as a campaign issue.)  However, the vast majority of those who come to our borders are seeking safety from violence or to escape grinding poverty.

In face of this dilemma, those of us who follow Jesus must make our scriptures our guide for how we view and treat immigrants/asylum seekers.  I wrote a few days ago on some scriptures from the Exodus and Leviticus.  Here’s more.

In Genesis 12:1-3, God promises Abraham two things: descendants and that through those descendants all the peoples of the earth will be blessed.  The blessing of all the peoples of the earth is God’s goal…and God chooses to use Abraham’s descendants to carry that blessing, and, I believe, now wants to use us to carry that blessing to all peoples.  We are not blessing other peoples by turning them away, refusing them welcome and hospitality and safety.  We are not participating with God in blessing the peoples of the world when we turn desperate and endangered people away from our borders.

In Genesis 18, Abraham welcomes and offers gracious hospitality to three strangers, foreigners, and the result is they announce that Abraham will, within a year, have his long-awaited son with Sarah.  When we bless others by offering gracious hospitality, it has a way of bringing gifts into our lives…and that has been true when the U.S. has welcomed immigrants.  Those immigrants have blessed us through their work, their contributions to our economy (like their entrepreneurial spirit), the positive values they bring from their culture of origin (love of family, willingness to work hard), the cultural richness they bring—art, music, food, dance, etc.

Hebrews 13:2 reads, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers [literally foreigners/immigrants], for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Sorry…I will write more later.