Sorry I have been AWOL, but my computer has been down for about a week. At one point I had two hours of nothing but the blue screen of death, but I have been able to perform at least a partial resurrection.
We dropped our daughter off at kindergarten for the first time today and on Friday we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. It isn’t often in life when you are going through a major transition and all of life seems connected to it. This weekend it feel like a whole chapter, a decade long, has closed and a new one has opened. I feel as ready for it as I can be.
Wait where did all the tiny, barely old enough to dress themselves gymnasts go…
Well the Olympics are over and pastors everywhere will have to find new preaching material. Reflecting on these Olympics, they were spectacular and troubling. Nothing but love for the athletes who gave of themselves, and the incredible performances, but I wasn’t too taken with the ultra glitzy China is modern and fantastic Olympic presentation. China hid its dirt to show how wonderful it is. The Chinese people are beautiful and a true treasure, but the government leaves so much to be desired. The Olympics really made that stand out in profound ways.
Strange observations about the Olympics…
Chinese people don’t make splashes
India, a country with over a billion people, won a total of 3 medals.
Any team from the Netherlands will be the most beautiful people in the competition.
Marathoners are freaks. They were running 5:30 and 5:10 miles for 26 miles, how is this humanly possible? The American marathoners looke pathetic and they ran 2:10 marathons.
They needed to show more weighlifting and shotputting in primetime.
Sprinters are the Wide Receivers of the Olympics (See prima donna definitions)
Did you see the story about the Cuban Taekwondo competitor who got mad at the ref and kicked him in the face? This is straight out of Bloodsport or some other terrible martial arts tournament movie. I kept waiting to hear that this same competitor had taken another competitors girlfriend hostage until after the match.
Living as the Majority
I was preaching in Exodus chapter 1 yesterday and this passage really just stuck with me. The suffering of the Israelites at the hands of the Egyptians has always served as a powerful image of the church struggling against the world for me. This time, however, I really felt God challenging me to not place myself with the Israelites in the story, but with the Egyptians. As educated, wealthy, free, and privileged Christians, we are with the majority, not the minority. We have the power, influence, and resources that the rest of the world does not. And we too live in fear, like the Egyptians, that somehow the minority will rise up against us and take it all away. This is a really challenging text to read as an Egyptian.
The irrational fear and paranoia that lead to such barbaric acts against the Israelites are the same factors that affect us as Christians today. When I read stories of Christian groups that are helping to fight the battle on immigration, and somehow view this as part of their Christian duty, it makes me physically ill. We are working not to bring justice to those who need it, but to protect what we have out of a sense of greed. If we wanted justice for immigrants, we would be working to give them a better alternative to having to sneak into our country, or we would be working to open our borders to help out as many of them as possible. How many fellow Christians are we refusing to offer basic hospitality and rights to in the name of our patriotism?
Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we are somehow different than everyone else. We have these same thoughts and struggles. We must be different, however, in our struggle to overcome them and to practice loving those who are most in need, in the name of Christ.
August 27, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Greg,
This is what you stated:
We [Christians] have the power, influence, and resources that the rest of the world does not. And we too live in fear, like the Egyptians, that somehow the minority will rise up against us and take it all away.
The irrational fear and paranoia that lead to such barbaric acts against the Israelites are the same factors that affect us as Christians today. When I read stories of Christian groups that are helping to fight the battle on immigration, and somehow view this as part of their Christian duty, it makes me physically ill. We are working not to bring justice to those who need it, but to protect what we have out of a sense of greed.
You have never provided citations for who these “Christian groups” are that participate in activities that make you physically ill. Who are they? Do they really exist?
You went on:
If we [Christians] wanted justice for immigrants, we would be working to give them a better alternative to having to sneak into our country, or we would be working to open our borders to help out as many of them as possible.
Is working for justice, and how are you defining justice, for illegal immigrants really a Christian calling? Is it really justice you want, or has the word been redefined to fit into an agenda?
And…This is a governemnt solution. You stated that Christians should be working to open the borders for ilegal immigrants.
And…What alternatives are you proposing for illegal immigrants, here?
Then, you said:
Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we are somehow different than everyone else. We have these same thoughts and struggles.
By that you meant: irrational fear, paranoia, and greed (unless you meant some unknown struggles that you had not listed in your post).
You concluded:
We must be different [not greedy, not irrational, not fearful], however, in our struggle to overcome them and to practice loving those who are most in need, in the name of Christ [by opening borders, supporting taxpayer funded benefits, providing alternatives to illegal immigrants who dangerously sneak over the border, and advocating that illegal immigrants have U.S. rights].
Here is the crux:
If you don’t want to make it political and ideological, then just encourage Christian folks to get involved with ministries that the Church has already been faithfully carry out for decades…serve in soup kitchens, serve in women’s shelters, clothe the poor, assist the impoverished, etc. – BUT most of all give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
The only people that I know of that are concerned, at all, about immigration status when it comes to ministering in these capacities, and who talk of opening borders and giving rights to non-citizens, are political idealogues that have an agenda and mask that agenda in the work of the “church”.
Why are you so concerned about labeling my position?
All positions have labels.
Why are you so concerned about labeling those who need ministry by their immigration status?
Is there something in my ecclessiology that you believe is unBiblical?
Possibly…and, again, you seem to weave back and forth between the Church (and the work thereof) and the Kingdom of God as if they are synonomous. They are not synonomous.
Paul
August 28, 2008 at 12:59 am
Paul,
I feel like we are talking in circles here, so let’s start at the beginning. Here is a more comprehensive and directly laid out answer to your various questions while trying to point us back to the point I am trying to make.
1) There is a consistent Biblical ethic to take care of the alien and stranger among us. Hospitality is one of the most important aspects of our witness and work in this world.
2) In our country this is an especially huge opportunity with immigrants, illegal and legal, because of the shear volume that are here, and are coming. To ignore this responsibility is to ignore our call to be the church, the present imperfect reality of the Kingdom of God at work in our world.
3) Our immigration laws need reform. They neither protect our borders adequately nor address the immense demand and flow of immigrants into this country. Because the borders are too porous we have the problem of huge populations of illegal immigrants already here. We do not have a plan for adequately dealing with this present reality. Immigration reform needs to provide better answers for integrating this population into our country via a process of naturalization.
4) The illegal immigrant population is not treated well as a work force because they have no voice. If they speak up for their rights as workers they risk deportation. The existence of this population also hurts American workers because it allows underhanded or desperate employers to pay workers less and it creates less jobs. These are just some of the signs of the brokenness of our system.
5) Ministering to the immigrant population (illegal or legal) should not be a stretch for the church because this type of hospitality should already be part of our mission. Unfortunately for many churches it is not.
6) Greed leads to paranoia and fear. As Americans we are greedy because we have so much. Christians in America are not immune from greed. There is absolutely a connection between our fear of economic hardship, cultural change, and loss of privilege and the immigration debate. Christians are not immune from this either. This isn’t true for all sides of the debate, but it is true for some.
That is a pretty good summation of what I have been trying to say. Does that clear up anything?
I am not advocating Marxism. I am not offering a liberal take. I am not even sure what the liberal view on immigration is. I am simply trying to unpack a Biblical perspective on a vitally important contemporary issue.
August 28, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Paul,
Interesting article in the Washington Post today about companies caught in a catch-22 because of immigration laws. Just that it was interesting in light of our conversation.
Have a good one-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/27/AR2008082703931.html?hpid=topnews
August 28, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Greg,
I had seen that article. It nicely demonstrates why the Federal government can’t outsource border control to U.S. employers.
Plus…who do you think picks up the tab for the increased operating costs related to this attempt at enforcemnet? (yep…the consumer via an increased purchase price. We just love inflation.)
And…you never did answer that question about how you are to love the thief, that breaks and enters into your home and steals the contents of your wife’s purse while your kids are sleeping upstairs, as your neighbor. Is it greedy to secure your home, kids, and asstets form the needy thieves around you? What would be justice for the thief in the situation? What would be justice for your family in the situation?
Paul
August 28, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Sorry, let me try and answer the question now.
It is certainly not greedy to protect your family or your assets from those who would steal them.
Our responsibility as neighbors, however, should lend us to try and be aware of the basic needs of those around us and do what we can to help meet those needs, even to the point of sacrifice. Jesus, in Matthew 5:38-48 talks a lot about this difficult reality of trying to be loving to those who would take from you and from those who would persecute you.
As I read those commands they talk about going beyond what is reasonable to demonstrate God’s love to the person who is wronging you. It does not mean being a doormat, allowing violence to happen to your family, or allowing someone to take all that you have without resisting.
It does talk about knowing someone’s need, even someone who may be your enemy, and trying to help provide for that need even at your sacrifice. It talks about going beyond government mandated acts of service (such as carrying the soldiers armor for a mile) and going beyond it to take an act of obligation and make it an act of worship to God.
So I guess is how does this relate to immigration. Does it mean that we should throw open our borders without thought of cost or the damage it can do to our country? No, it does not. Does it mean, however, that we should be seeking ways to show mercy and kindness to people who are desperate enough for a better life that they would even enter this country illegally? Yes.
That is my take on your question.