I just returned to Indiana from the Regional Assembly of the Christian Church in Northern California-Nevada. Their theme, “For Such a Time as This,” comes directly from the book of Esther, which incidentally I’ve been thinking a lot about as it’s one of the Bible stories used in Operation Cacti, the resource for immigrant youth created in partnership between Obra Hispana and Week of Compassion.

​We have just celebrated the Week of Compassion Special Offering, taking time to think
together about A New Way of being in ministry at this time. I’ve always enjoyed the
passage that anchored our reflections for this offering. The image of four friends doing
whatever it took to get their friend access to healing is a powerful one, but this year
there was a new element that captured my attention in Mark 2:1-5. The passage says,
“Then some people, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.” In the
past, when I’ve pictured this scene, I’ve only imagined the four people and the paralyzed man. I didn’t ever think that they were a subset of a larger group as is so clearly implied in the passage.

I was giving a presentation to a group of clergy and lay leaders in Texas over Zoom one Saturday morning earlier this year. I was explaining what changes at the federal level meant for ministry with immigrants and refugees, and this year that meant telling people pretty much exclusively bad news. One of the leaders commented during the Q and A that they wondered why I’m not horribly depressed, and to me that answer is pretty simple. While I am tuned in to the absolute worst our country has to offer for immigrants and refugees simply trying to live their lives in safety and freedom, I am also tuned in to the myriad ways Disciples of Christ are working to bring love and justice to people encountering a chaotic and cruel system.

In recent weeks, churches have been experiencing heightened interactions with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and there are now rumors that churches might be specifically targeted during the season of Advent. While an article in a small Massachusetts paper detailing a potential plan for heightened enforcement has not been reported more widely, Religious News Service published this response to that report, in which Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches
responded, “At a minimum, what we [churches] need to be doing is ensuring the safety
of all of God’s people.”

NO LONGER STRANGERS is a new resource from Week of Compassion focused on telling personal stories and exploring the changing landscape and faithful responses to immigrant and refugee concerns.
​
So, then, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's family. - Ephesians 2:19