Week 4 brings new perspective.
Sunday's preach was on the topic of immigration. Speaking into a very real issue, at a very real time for a very real reason - the Gospel.
The Gospel is about real life, not really about heaven in the future.
The Gospel is about transformation and God's rule and reign now.
His rule and reign in a world that rejects it.
The Gospel is all about real issues in real time.
So, the Scripture's teach that Christ followers are "strangers in a strange land" (1 Peter 1 & 2).
To understand this brings new perspective on how Christians engage with the issue of immigration - both documented and undocumented.
Scripture is teaching that because of the distinct and different lifestyles of Christ followers, a lifestyle that is different that the majority of people - the society in which they live will view them as strangers.
Now here's the twist. In our country, if Christians lived as Christ expects us to we would be living at the margins of our society .......and who would we meet there - the immigrant!!
This is the charge, or should I say the opportunity.
If Christians lived as Christ expects us to live, a mass of people who politicians have turned to to help win the past three elections and bring them to the White House, would have to engage justly and fairly with the immigration issue.
As long as Christians - who should be the loudest voice standing with the migrant - stay silent; politicians can ignore it.
Ours is the Christian generation that can accomplish historic things.
This is the generation that could abolish world famine; this is the generation that could eradicate malaria as a killing disease; and ours is the generation that could create an equitable and fair immigration policy for the US.
What an opportunity!
It comes with the challenge for Christians to live on the margins as Christ expects us to.
To live the Gospel!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Justice and fairness are the issues. Those of us who work along side of migrants must treat them with respect and dignity.As we learn their stories. we will be amazed at the lives they have led. We must remeber here in the US, unless we are Native Americans, we are all migrant children.Some of us might be 3rd generation as I am, some of us might be 20th generation.
I live in a community in northern California that is growing ever more hispanic. I work in a profession that has a lot of interaction with this growing community of residents. I work with some folks that are annoyed when someone comes in the office (or calls) that cannot speak English. I work with some folks that are worried about the tremendous pressure that is placed on the social systems that are set up to offer financial assistance to those that need help. I have received several emails from the people that are (I guess) afraid of what will happen to our society if something isn't done to confront the real (and in some aspects imagined) problem.
I want to be a person that does not fall prey to this sort of fear. I try to always choose to rest in the fact that I pledge my allegiance to a God that promises abundance. Not a God of scarcity where I need to make sure that someone else doesn't get the thing that is meant for me and mine.
When I was wrestling with why I would be annoyed and fearful by some of these issues I thought that perhaps this is how the Egyptians felt about the Israelites. Afraid there were so many of them that they were going to take over and somehow take the power or the resources or the good stuff that is at a premium and should be ours.
Post a Comment