Love and the Law, Sojourners Magazine/June 2009

A book review of Welcoming the Stranger:

In Welcoming the Stranger, Matthew Soerens and Jenny Hwang have injected justice, compassion, and truth into what needs to become a new conversation on immigration—values that are often in short supply in this debate.

Click here to read the review. Then buy the book, read it and recommend it to your friends.

Would Ruth be admitted at the border?

The biblical story of Ruth is about a Moabite immigrant to Israel. A despised minority/foreigner who migrated as an economic refugee. This story informs the celebration of Shaboat and Pentecost. Rabbi Arthur Waskow comments on this biblical story and the situation of immigrants to the United States today on God's Politics here.

About Fanatics:

If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.

- William Wilberforce,
British abolitionist and social reformer (1759-1833)

HT: God's Politics @ sojo.net

About Christians:

"They dwell in their country, but simply as Sojourners. As citizens, they share all things as if foreigners" -Diognetus ~140 AD

Welcoming The Stranger interview and review [UPDATE}

is in the online version of Christianity today here. Go check it out and participate in the discussion. The review is nicely done. So far the comments seem rather one sided. What do you think?



Have you read the book yet?

[UPDATE] Sojourners has posted my review here.

Exodus 23:9

¶ “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

Los Angeles May 1 event 2009

I enjoyed a quick trip downtown on Friday afternoon to catch some of the marchers arriving at Placita Olvera. I parked free near the Chinatown Goldline station and took that to Union Station.



There were a wide variety of marchers and messages that afternoon. There seemed to be a lot of hope from the people that I talked to and saw. Thursday, President Obama indicated that the process for comprehensive immigration reform should begin this year.



I saw one counter demonstrator with a tee shirt from a local radio station that features strident programing from a rather angry disenfranchised crowd to the right. I decided not to post his picture. The LAPD was watching closely and video taping his activity--i guess--in case something happened.





I saw a few familiar faces, including Father Estrada from the Catholic Parish at Placita.There were marchers from UCLA calling for passing of the DREAM Act.

More coverage from the LA Times here and here.

More Photos from May 1 2009

Rev. Joel Hunter testifies on Immigration at Senate Judiciary subcommittee

Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor at Northland, A Church Distributed near Orlando, Florida testified on the impact of the current immigration system on people of faith and called for reformed or the broken system so that people could come out of the shadows.

Some highlights:

In my faith tradition we all start as strangers and aliens, outsiders to the commonwealth of God. But because we have a God who was willing to do what it took to include us (at great personal cost), we "are no longer strangers and aliens, but [we] are fellow citizens?" (Ephesians 2:18-19a)

So I find it a high honor to speak to those in power as an advocate for those who have no power. In a verse that would be echoed in many religions, Proverbs 31:8 commands us to "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves."

. . . So most people of faith are hoping for policies that will prioritize family togetherness, respect for the law, personal productivity, and compassion for those who are most helpless.

Conclusion

We do not envy you your charge. Immigration reform is a morally complex as well as a politically explosive challenge. But many of us are praying earnestly for you and for God's wisdom in this matter.

Including the stranger is not just a matter of compassion but a necessity for greatness.

Loving your neighbor as you love yourself is not only a moral commandment but a path
to national nobility, if we can build a nation of families and support networks that not only help the marginalized to be successful, but help the successful to be helpful, then we can better live up to our potential as a people.

In the end, I believe our nation will be not be judged by the productivity of our budgets, or the genius of our laws, or even the earnestness of our faith communities. We will be judged, both by history and by God, by the way we treated people, especially those who needed our help.

The church blog has his testimony posted here.

The official United States Senate Judiciary Committee posts the testimony here.

* Video File * Record from Camera Congreso, me esuchas ahora? (Congress, can you hear me now?)

Como creeas la red mobile mas grande de la nacion para los derechos de los inmigrantes? Por medio de connectar personas como usted, que se preocupen por las familias inmigrantes. Mande el mensaje de text Justicia al 698-66 para recibir actualizaciones y alertas de accion.

Join the Fair Immigration Reform Movement's (FIRM) mobile action network to get the latest news and action alerts right on your mobile phone. Text "JUSTICE" or "JUSTICIA" to the number 69866 to get connected. Just and humane immigration reform in 2009!!



Actor: Francisco Moreno

Find local rallies and events for just and humane immigration reform this May 1st at http://www.anewdayforimmigration.org.