Sermons

Minister: Rev. Margaret A. Beckman | “When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall do them no wrong, the strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as natives among you, and you love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Leviticus 19:33-34
 

ANCIENT WISDOM ~ Various Hebrew and Christian Scriptures

Exodus 22
21 You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. 23 If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry;

Deuteronomy 10
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, 18 who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. 19 You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 22
3 Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place.

Matthew 25
34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

Romans 12
12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Hebrews 13
13 Let mutual love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTEMPORARY WISDOM
New York Times, Oct. 8, 2018
Migrant Children in Search of Justice: A 2-Year-Old’s Day in Immigration Court
By Vivian Yee and Miriam Jordan

The youngest child to come before the bench in federal immigration courtroom No. 14 was so small she had to be lifted into the chair. Even the judge in her black robes breathed a soft “aww” as her latest case perched on the brown leather.

Her feet stuck out from the seat in small gray sneakers, her legs too short to dangle. Her fists were stuffed under her knees. As soon as the caseworker who had sat her there turned to go, she let out a whimper that rose to a thin howl, her crumpled face a bursting dam.

The girl, Fernanda Jacqueline Davila, was 2 years old: brief life, long journey. The caseworker, a big-boned man from the shelter that had been contracted to raise her since she was taken from her grandmother at the border in late July, was the only person in the room she had met before that day.

SERMON

Abraham Beckmann, my grandfather four generations before me, came to this country from Germany with nothing but an empty stomach, hope and self-determination. He came searching for a dream that this new land would be better than the one he left behind. With lots of hard work and lots of suffering and a fair amount of luck, he found that dream for his children and their children all the way down to me.

As long as human beings have been able to record their history, our story has included periods of migration and suffering and conquering and migration. For many of us, the foundational stories of our lives begin with migration. We each have a family history that includes our ancestors leaving their homeland and coming into this land.

For Jews and Christians, an essential part of their foundational story is the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, from slavery to freedom.

In the telling and retelling of these stories, we come to know what it is to have been strangers in a strange land fleeing for our very lives. We come to know what it is to be afraid and weary and alone. We come to know what it is to see our family members threatened and abused and, yes, even murdered. We come to know what it is to be utterly dependent on the kindness of strangers – to be taken in and cared for and fed and housed until we can make our own way.

Our faith teaches us to care for the immigrant, the stranger, the alien, the asylum seeker. The scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity make it an absolute imperative that immigrants and migrants are cared for and treated with respect. These scripture passages are unambiguous. To read them any other way than as a requirement of faith is an abuse of the tradition and a rejection of faith.

We are people of faith. We live in the longstanding history and tradition of Jews and Christians and Unitarian Universalists. We draw on these sources for truth and meaning. We gain a sense of ethics and morality and prophetic truth from our faith.

Hospitality, kindness, respect, and understanding are not luxuries of our faith, they are requirements of our faith. We affirm the inherent dignity and worth of every person. This is not charity. It is justice.

I do not need to describe to anyone here this morning the great suffering of people who leave their homeland because they cannot stay and survive. The United Nations estimates that in 2018 there are 68.5 million people forced from their homeland. Where do they go? Where can they go?

A small percentage of that 68.5 million people will make their way to The United States.

And then what?
And then what?

What will we do?

Do we invite them in, or do we shut the door against them?

We cannot turn our backs on those who would seek a better life for their children now any more than the ancient Israelites could turn aside from the widow, the fatherless and the immigrant who came to them seeking mercy and a chance to begin again – to make a life for their children.

We see the faces of the children.

When we learned that children were being taken from their parents and guardians and placed in detention centers and then either forgotten or sent off into foster care, our hearts were broken. Then we were outraged.

A cry went up across this land – “families belong together.”

The process for gaining a legal status in this country, even temporarily, is difficult and long. Forcing children to be kept apart from their family members during this process is wrong. It is just wrong.

Fernanda Jacqueline Davila is two years old. She is taken from her family. She is alone. No one knows her. Then, she must go to court to plead her case for asylum. Two years old. Separated from her family. The judge speaks to her kindly, but cannot stop the tears and the fear and the trauma.

There are many others. It is the children, separated and alone, that break our hearts. It is the parents and grandparents who have lost their children that break our hearts.

We begin in Love. We begin by seeing, really seeing, not only the children, but at all the refugees and asylum seekers as our neighbors. They and we are all children of the one universal energy that gives life. We are one family.

This morning, I am not going to ask you to do anything beyond opening your broken hearts to all those who seek our kindness and care at the border. I am going to invite you to see their faces. I am going to invite you to place yourself in the role of comforter and protector. I am going to invite you to hold all these neighbors in your arms and cradle them in the strength of your embrace. As a mother cradles her children and sings them to sleep – this is how I invite you to see these neighbors of ours as they come to us asking no more than a fair chance.

LULLABY (LIKE A SHIP)

Cris Williamson
Shaina Noll

Like a ship in the harbor,
like a mother and child,
like a light in the darkness,
I’ll hold you awhile.”

“We’ll rock on the water.
I’ll cradle you deep
and hold you while angels
sing you to sleep.”

We can make a difference.
We can’t save the whole world all at once.
But we can make a difference for the one who is before us right now.

First, we love them.
We may not yet be able to provide long-term legal residence to all who seek it. That will take time and creativity and determination.
We are surely able to provide respect and hospitality, kindness and comfort.

My dear Spiritual Companions, may we see the faces of those who are coming to us. May we comfort them. May we be a light in the darkness. May we cradle them deep while angles sing them to sleep. May our faith guide us and sustain us and demand of us to love kindness and to do justice.

Blessed Be.   I Love You.   Amen.