Tag Archives: Refugees

Water from the Rock

Lent

March 9, 2020

Scripture Reading: Exodus 17:1-7

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’

I remember reading somewhere that humans can survive without food for several days but going without water for three or more days is deadly. Water is necessary for life. Grumbling about not having water to drink reflects the fear of death by dehydration. A people who lived around desert land were no doubt acquainted with such disaster. Panic, giving up, anger, even hoarding water supplies would be normal responses to such a situation. The Israelite refugees from Egypt were demonstrating their humanness.

God provided for the Israelites repeatedly in desperate situations like this, but they seem to have short memories and limited faith. One aspect of the role of a leader is to demonstrate faith in the face of trials seeking solutions when none are in sight and setting examples of cool heads and perseverance.  

We live in a world full of similar chaos. In 2019, An unprecedented 70.8 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide, and 37,000 people are forced to flee their homes every day due to conflict or persecution*. We drink water from faucets with little thought of how we routinely have fresh, tested, clean water available simply by turning a knob. One of the roles of Christ followers like you and me is to be the rock that provides water for those caught in the wilderness of being a refugee from their homeland for whatever reason.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the water we drink daily. Help us make sure all your other children have the same opportunity to have water to survive. Amen.

*See https://reliefweb.int/report/world/world-refugee-day-2019

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Refugees

Christmastide

December 28, 2019

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2:13-23

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’ –Matthew 2:13-15

The story in this scripture is being used to highlight the current threats refugees all over the world are facing. It is appropriate as we watch on the news the many refugees being driven from their homelands to less hostile, but unwelcoming territories. Most of our world was settled by migrating people seeking a better life from their starting point. Cain may be the first refugee recorded in the Bible, which says that he went with God’s protection even though his reason for leaving was that he killed his brother. Abraham was a migrant from Ur. Joseph was sold into slavery into Egypt, and Jesus was taken to Egypt to save him from the Romans who had conquered Israel.

I track my ancestry through an online service that maps all the different places from which my ancestors came. All eight of the primary lines I track were here before the first census in 1790. Religious freedom was a primary motive for the earliest of my ancestors’ transatlantic treks. Lack of a means to support their families was the primary reason for others. Famines were not unusual in England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and France. These people all made positive contributions to the USA.

My ancestors were also all white, therein lies the rub in our immigration problems today and in our treatment of the indigenous people whose lands we claimed as a part of our perceived manifest destiny. Jim Wallis defines America’s original sin as racism. We imported slaves from Africa. Low-paid, poorly treated Asians were brought here to build our railroads, and people from our southern neighbor’s were needed to harvest our food. Lust for power and greed were the driving forces in all these instances and remain a great shame for us today.

As we prepare for a new year, let us dedicate ourselves to restoring wholeness to all of God’s children enabling us to become the people God created us to be.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for choosing not to see the racism that is all about us. Show us ways to remove discrimination from our society and create a world of mutual respect for all your children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved. Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt into the promise land.

Living God’s Love

Lent
April 3, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 126
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
   we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
   and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
   ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
The Lord has done great things for us,
   and we rejoiced.

 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
   like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
   reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
   bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
   carrying their sheaves.

I am in the process of finishing the book We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter. It is a novel describing the real story of a Jewish family living in Poland at the outbreak of World War II. It traces the lives of the family members, parents and young adults, as they were scattered from Poland to Brazil, Siberia, Tahran, and Italy. The story provides new insights on what it truly must feel like to worship God after the horrors of being condemned refugees. They were the lucky ones. Around 6 million European Jews were killed*. I could not help imagining that family’s emotional response to reuniting as I read the above scripture.

One of my uncles served in Germany during that war. He and a few other soldiers had just crossed a bridge in Germany when it was blown up with the rest of his platoon on it. German soldiers came along shortly and shot all but my uncle and one other man all were defenseless and severely injured some already dead. When my uncle was flipped over by the butt of a rifle to see if he was alive, he said he played possum. I guess all those hours of hunting and observing wildlife had paid a dividend. He and his buddy were two of the lucky ones also. He lived the rest of his life with a metal plate replacing a bone in his head and another metal bar holding a shattered leg bone together. He did not tell me this. He did not talk about the war. My dad got the story probably from someone else when he visited him while he was in the hospital. After reading the book I wondered what other horrors my uncle had seen.

The Psalm above is a song of ascent sang by worshipers as they walked up the hill to the temple. It relates the story of celebration when Israel was freed from bondage. There were an estimated 68.5 million* refugees in our world in 2018 and the number is growing. These people were driven from their homelands to save themselves from certain death from violence, starvation, lack of drinkable water, and oppression. How is that possible in a world where many claim allegiances to the God of love who calls followers to love our neighbor as we love ourselves? God created a bountiful world with enough resources for all to live in their homelands and have adequate resources to not just survive but thrive. Too many people, some claiming to be God’s people worship at the feet of greed and lust after power resulting in even more mistreatment of those escaping violence. God’s call still echoes through this world, we need to listen for that still small voice and live God’s love.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for turning blind eyes to the needs of refugees. Show us avenues of service where we can help meet their immediate needs and paths to justice to create a world ruled by love. Amen.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Sharing God’s Abundant Love

Living in the Spirit
November 4, 2018

Scripture Reading: Mark 12:28-34

The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbor as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question. –Mark 12:31-34

The quote that is burned into my brain following the Oklahoma City bombing is, “the first heart that broke was God’s”. I am sorry I do not remember who said it, but it often flashes through my mind on other occasions when hate destroys. We surely are breaking God’s heart as we dehumanize refugees, make them enemies rather than the frightened, desperate, starving people that they are. They are being used as political pawns. What would we do if we did not have food for our children and a safe place to live? What would we do if our young sons are being enticed into violent gang life? What would we do as our children die in our arms from diseases cause by the water we drink?

History tells us that we are all migrants even those who came to the Americas thousands of years ago. I was taught as a tiny child that God created the earth and all that is in it for the use of humans. The Bible in which I was schooled told me from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament that we are to welcome the stranger and to love our neighbors. We all benefit from sharing God’s abundant love.

All who claim to be followers of God need to search our souls and determine if that is what we are doing. We need to do positive actions regarding all the peoples of the earth in sharing God’s abundant love. Accepting refugees and helping them acclimate to a new culture. Working to improve life in people’s homelands awash in discord is another. If possible, we should do both. There is no room for hate or bigotry or violence in any response by followers of God.

Prayer: Lord, open doors of understanding that we might make Christlike decisions regarding our welcoming strangers and loving our neighbors. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Lying Down in Safety

Eastertide
April 11, 2018

When you are disturbed, do not sin;
   ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
Offer right sacrifices,
   and put your trust in the Lord.

There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good!
   Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’
You have put gladness in my heart
   more than when their grain and wine abound.

 I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
   for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety. –Psalms 4:4-8

I recently went to bed following the news announcement that some 1,500 Honduran refugees were headed toward the United States trying to escape the deadly environment in which they lived. That night I dreamed of a stream of brown children slogging along in a wilderness traveling north with one boy standing out because he was dressed in a white tunic-like garment that extended from his shoulders to his bare feet. I think it was Christ.

We are experiencing a worldwide refugee crisis. The problem with which Europe is dealing is far greater than the refugee situation in the Americas. Two things that people of faith must consider as we serve in our citizen roles: there are no borders in the Kingdom of God and no one should have to leave their homeland because of fear and starvation. A twofold approach is always required.

The dilemmas presented on the news were the US government announcing that we would not accept these refugees while the Mexican government tries to figure out what to do as the Hondurans were already in their country. What our government seems not to understand is that our detention centers are oases of safety and food compared to the hellhole of violence from which these families are escaping. Our Common Good is enhanced by healthy relationships with our neighbors coupled with our neighbors experience their own Common Good.

There exists an informal continuum of caring in our world that starts with individual acts of love that are without limits but lacking in scope and extends to government programs that are limited by rules and regulations but can provide major resources. Peppered in between are congregations, non-profits, non-governmental organizations all trying to fill gaps. It takes this entire continuum wrapped in the arms of the Holy Spirit to address the needs of our world.

Prayer: Lord, open doors of understanding for us as we attempt to address justice in a world community.    for you alone, O Lord, make [all] lie down in safety. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Refugees Named Joseph

Living in the Spirit
August 8, 2017

Scripture Reading: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

[Joseph’s brothers] saw [Joseph] from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him. . . But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, ‘Let us not take his life.’. . . and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’ And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
–Genesis 37:18-20a-21, 24-28

How do we turn bad life experiences into good? I watch at least once a week news stories about refugees fleeing oppression in some instances certain death. These are human beings just like you and me with families they love. Some caught in the chaos of war, teach their children how to take shelter from bombs while trying to teach them to read because all the schools are gone. In Syria, a group of people* have formed to save as many of their neighbors as they can following a bombing. Some of these brave souls have lost their lives in the process, but they hold on to the sacredness of humanity in a world turned upside down.

I remember the shame I felt several years ago when I learned the United States turned away from our ports shiploads of Jewish refugees escaping Hitler’s regime. I feel the same shame as we turn away refugees or watch then die from the futility of escaping certain death if they stay in their homeland.

Joseph was a refugee sold into slavery who proved his worth to Egypt by saving them from famine. Jesus, Mary, and another Joseph also were refugees in Egypt. Jesus became our Savior who commanded us to follow the long tradition of the Israelites and welcome the stranger. When we have, we have most often been blessed. Yet, we hunker down in fear of terrorist while we watch refugees die. Whether we like it or not, ours is a country of immigrants and Native Americans, and we thrive not in spite of but because of our diversity.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”**

Prayer: Lord, when we turn away refugees, we turn you away too. Forgive us; strengthen us O Lord to follow the example of The White Helmets and save those who flee oppression. Amen.

*See The White Helmets on Netflix or http://www.newsweek.com/white-helmets-new-netflix-documentary-follows-syrias-heroes-training-rescue-496633

**Words on the Statue of Liberty from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus

All scriptures are quoted from the new Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

A Wandering Armenian

Wandering-ArameanEpiphany
February 8, 2016

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’ When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. –Deuteronomy 26:1-5

Sometimes I think we rather glamorize our ancestors in the faith. Perhaps that is because we have been saturated with movie versions of their acts. I probably would not have considered them as refugees, if our world were not so full of wandering people some of them from the neighbors of the current Armenia. There are not a lot of Armenians left after the Armenian Genocide that occurred during World War I. Our scripture today recognizes that, Moses apparently identified Armenians in his ancestry.

What impact does it have on a people to lose their land and be forced to live among aliens? Joseph did very well in Egypt, but 400 years later when the Israelites had multiplied, they became a threat to the people who had once welcomed them. That same thing is happening to those countries who have accepted in recent years, refugees from the war-weary middle east. How long will it be before they can return to their homes? As people charged by God to love we begin to ask how much and to how many, as resources shrink and the number of refugees increases.

There are no easy answers. It is an opportunity to hone our skills at loving, meeting needs as we can, encouraging systemic answers that are stubbornly not pursued, and leaning heavily on God to open paths of love not yet seen.

Prayer: Lord, show us the better way to welcome the strangers as neighbors. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Refugee

refugees4Living in the Spirit
October 26, 2015

Scripture Reading: Ruth 1:1-18

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there for about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons or her husband. –Ruth 1:1-5

It is an ancient story told many times in the Bible, leaving one’s homeland to survive. In the story above a family became refugees because of drought. Today refugees are created from war, various climate change events, oppression, and poverty. Our great challenge is to determine the best way to help people dealing with the issues that force them from their homelands. There are no easy answers. Is it better to help people remain closer to home in refugee camps with the hope that they well be able to return home soon or to move them from their culture to a strange land?

We non-native Americans in the United States are the descendants of immigrants some of whom were refugees although they may not have been formally recognized as such. Refugees are people by definitions who must leave their home area for their own safety or survival.* One of my ancestors came in 1630 as a pilgrim escaping religious persecution so technically he could have been considered a refugee, I suppose. I am not sure but one might have come to the US as a result of the potato famine in Ireland. That was the reason many of my hometown German neighbors traveled to the US in the late 1800’s. I don’t really know why my other ancestors came. I assume they were at least looking for a better life.

With refugees pouring out of the Middle East and Africa escaping war and oppression, it might be a good time to come to terms with the ideas of refugees for they are our neighbors and we are called to love them as we love ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, according to the book of Matthew you were a refugee in a foreign land when your parents escape with you to Egypt to save you from the terror of Herod. Help us to see you in each of the refugees we have an opportunity to serve whether near to their homeland or here in ours. Amen.

*http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/refugee/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

People of Faith

faithLiving in the Spirit
September 28, 2015

Scripture Reading: Job 1:1, 2:1-10

There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil….

One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.’ Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. –Job 1:1, 2:1-4

Job is the story of a man who pledged his allegiance to God and never wavered from it. High drama, the story unfolds with Satan proclaiming any human would give all he or she had to live. God responds that Job would not give up his integrity.

We are watching a similar real drama unfold before our very eyes as refugees flee from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and northern Africa knowing they may indeed lose their livee in the fleeing, but also feeling having their way of being taken from them, living in constant fear of death and destruction, and watching their children starve is worse than death. No one wants to die, but there are worse things than death.

People would not face the dangers of such a journey, if they had lost all hope. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) These refugees are people of faith. They may now call the Supreme Being they rely on the same name we do. They may not follow the same rituals and the same holy days but they are people of faith.

God calls us to love like Jesus loved and I can envision Jesus walking the path of freedom with each of these people, feeding them, caring for their illness and wounds, celebrating the birth of their children arriving at a most inopportune time. I can also see him meeting them at their final destination, making them feel at home, giving them opportunities for self-support and sustenance. We are the hands and feet of Jesus in the world today. Let us open our hearts to these people who still have hope.

Prayer: Lord, we ask that your presence be a blessing to all those who flee from terrors most of us have never know. Open doors of understanding for us and show us as we are to love them. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Clothed in Righteousness

Delight in the lordAdvent
December 9, 2014

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
   my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
   he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
   and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
   and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
   to spring up before all the nations. — Isaiah 61:10-11

The Isaiah perspective arises out of the experience of exile. As I watch the images of Syrians and Iraqis stream from their homeland, I get a limited sense of what being taken into exile might have meant. Of course the people of Israel and later of Judah were taken into slavery. While that sounds much worse than being a refugee, in some ways it assures a modicum of stability. At least as chattel, like an ox or a horse, a person has some worth to someone, perhaps enough to be fed. Refugees walk into a vast unknown future where they are most often seen as a burden. It is out of that kind of life situation that the writer of Isaiah 61 crafts audacious verses of hope and justice.

Our writer indicates that we, the readers, are a part of the solution. God has already gifted us with salvation and justice. We have been prepared to enter into a state of marriage where we share in full partnership with God in God’s work toward a world where righteousness is the norm. It is as inevitable as planted seeds growing into sources of nourishment. Those seeds will grow more healthily and produce more fruit, if we tend them well.

Prayer: Fold us into your loving arms and guide us to do your will in working for justice throughout the world. Amen

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.