My hope for the future health of our families and communities

Today I struggle to put in perspective what I experienced last week, visiting with refugees in Europe, in the context of what I’ve returned to this week in my own homeland. 

This morning a dear sister in the Lord, for whom I have great respect, expressed her support for the new Trump administration policy (yes ‘new’ policy– fact-check it. The law may be old, but the zero-tolerance policy causing the child separations is new.) forcing now thousands of children to be separated from their parents at our Southern border.  A policy put in place by this administration for the expressed purpose, as stated by members of the administration, and tweeted by Trump himself, not only to deter families, escaping the violence in Central America from trying to find refuge in our land, but also, as Trump has made crystal clear, to attempt to pressure congress to use 25 billion ($25,000,000,000) of the dollars we entrusted to them, appropriated from our hard-earned wages, to build a wall that our legislators know is not actually a solution to border security, but simply a campaign promise trumped up on a whim.  (Yes, much of this paragraph contradicts the Whitehouse talking points you’ll hear from the press room, and from Fox News, but it is directly corroborated by Trump’s tweets and members of Trump’s staff, most notably John Kelly and Stephen Miller.)

The perspective shared by my friend this morning, in defense of Trump’s policy, seems to be held by many of my friends, family, and fellow-Christians.  Here is how she expressed this commonly held sentiment.  “Separating children from their families is indeed grievous.  But what if that illegal moved in to your neighborhood and killed your son?  Is not the permanent separation of your son and his children worth guarding?  That’s why legal immigration is important.  For the future health of our families and communities.”

My friend has young children, and as a grandparent of young children, I can relate to her concern for the “future health of our families and communities”.  Furthermore, I have another dear sister in Christ who has suffered the very thing mentioned above, losing a child and grandchildren to a senseless act of an illegal immigrant who, adding injustice to a tragedy I can’t fathom, escaped unpunished by the system.  So, my heart breaks for those experiencing a level of pain beyond my comprehension, on both sides of this issue. 

Though I’ve not lost a child to the injustices that prevail in our broken world today, ironically, before getting on the airplane Saturday to fly home from Europe to celebrate Father’s Day with my sons, I spent three hours with a man who has.  As we visited him, in a shelter provided by the government while he seeks asylum (where he lives, by the way, not separated from his wife and three children), he showed me a photo of the bullet-ridden lifeless body of his own son, shot by his own fellow-countrymen, not immigrants, members of his own religion, who have taken it upon themselves to eradicate from their land, those who fail to adhere to the radical interpretations of the teachings of their religion, as held by a minority.  A situation unimaginable in my grandsons’ future?  Sadly, not at all.  

It seems the natural response of those who've experienced these atrocities would be to walk away from an ideology which they had known to deceive them, and brutally murdered friends and family, driving them from their homes.  But, often that isn't the case.  Ironically, the reason they give for not walking away from that ideology, is the same one my friend shared with me this morning in support of Trump’s zero-tolerance policy that is taking children from their parents.  They fear for the safety of their children.  They fear for the “future health of their families and communities”, yes even fear for the loss of the sense of security they feel in their new community among fellow-refugees. 

I don’t wish to pretend that I can’t relate.  That I can’t relate to their fears.  Or, the fears of my friends who are rightly concerned about the security of our borders.  I do indeed struggle with fear for my grandsons’ future.  For their safety.  Not simply that our borders could be overrun by those who mean them harm.  But, like my refugee friends, that radical extremists from within our own religion could rise up within our own borders to attempt to eradicate those who share opposing views.  If Charlottesville didn’t put that fear in me, reading the history of Nazi Germany did.  

But, as I told my friend this morning, the day I begin to prioritize the "future health of our families and communities" over the call on my life to live out both the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, is the day I turn my back on the oppressed among us.  It is the day I declare by my silence, that it is okay to use the abuse of brown-skinned children to take our congress hostage until our president gets what he wants.  Not actual border security, but the opportunity to not lose face in the eyes of those to whom he promised a wall that Mexico would pay for.  A wall that even his own advisors have admitted was ill-conceived.  But, one that he still promises Mexico will pay for one way or another.  And right now, he is willing to have Mexico’s children, and thousands more from South Central America, pay for his wall by being emotionally and psychologically abused, being pulled from the arms of their parents, until he gets what he wants.

There is nothing unbiblical about border security. What is unbiblical is, "Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and widow are wronged in you.” (Ezek. 22:7). And, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.” (Lev. 19:33).  And, “You are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourself were foreigners in Egypt.” (Duet. 10:19).  And, “Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, the widow.” (Duet. 27:19) And, “For I was a stranger and you did not welcome me.” (Jesus, Matt. 25:43)  To name a few biblical admonitions.

There's also nothing unbiblical with us desiring the "future health of our families and communities".  I hope not, since it is my desire too, until it takes precedent over me loving my neighbor as myself.  My prayer for my grandsons is not that they will pledge allegiance to a nation to which they will look for their safety and security, but that they will pledge their allegiance to the One True God who gave his only Son that the nations might be saved.  Not safe, but saved.  That is my hope for the future health of our families and communities.