"When I was a stranger and you did not welcome me..."

Lets talk about immigration, probably the one and only topic that will get me fired up at the drop of a hat. You want to talk about politics? Lets talk politics.

In this last weekend the ignorance of the American people has driven me up a wall. What frustrates me is this: The ultra right-winged, conservative republicans stand strongly against immigration. The majority of American Christians identify themselves as at least conservatives or republicans.

Here are just some of the things that caught my eye on my newsfeed just today:

• Governors are refusing sanctuary to Syrian refugees, as they should be. Take care of our homeless first before we take care of theirs.
• Donald Trump: We will send them back, we will send them back. We will make this a country again. Right now, we don't have a country.
• A facebook comment of a friend: I'm all for taking in the impoverished, but there needs to be a system in place to filter out the good ones from the bad ones before we let them in. 
• It is the churches responsibility to take care of the orphaned and the hungry, but not our governments (written on a conservative website in response to the Bible's clear expectations of how to handle immigrants. 
• One of them helped bomb Paris, they are dangerous and we are inviting war into our country. 

I'm going to take these one by one, with my personal opinion, but also what I have really thought and prayed about. This topic is so sad that we even have to think about. 

Governors are refusing sanctuary to Syrian refugees, as they should be. Take care of our homeless first before we take care of theirs

Living in a large city, I am no stranger to the homeless problem in this country. However, I'm also very aware that there are several resources for them to be able to get help, education, and a job. In the city of Seattle alone, there is more than one helping institution. One to note is catered toward food. They are taken in, trained in basic food service, provided food safety certifications, and then hold special events so they can earn some money and tips. The organization is collaborative with several restaurants that employ the graduates of this program, and other organizations that help find homes and a stable income and environment. That is just one example. Bottom line? There are resources. It's not JUST up to us to help, it's up to them to want to be helped. These people literally fled their country in fear of being murdered, and are seeking shelter. And who ever said it was a permanent solution or help? If we were fleeing, I would pray another country with a homeless problem would welcome us in. Whats going to happen if we are taken over from the inside out and flee? Who is going to take in the over-entitled Americans? 

Donald Trump: We will send them back, we will send them back. We will make this a country again. Right now, we don't have a country.

Guess what?! Neither do they! And I hope one of them squashes your oversized, pompous head and you go back to the sad sorry hole you came from. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. 

Okay, that was my "Trump" outburst of the day. But seriously. Neither. Do. They. Is this a good time to bring up the "We actually took this country from the Indian tribes, so we shouldn't even have a country" speech? We as Americans promise the "American dream" - but only if you have lots of money to pay for a citizenship and pass all our tests and learn to speak the language and pay your way in. Yet we let people cheat our systems all the time to pay for their new cars. Again, bottom line, we have a relatively safe home we call our country, and they have no where to go. 

A facebook comment of a friend: I'm all for taking in the impoverished, but there needs to be a system in place to filter out the good ones from the bad ones before we let them in.

1) A "system" such as the one so ignorantly placed is faulty. Even if there actually are ISIS affiliates in there, how would we know? The screening would take months, people would starve, and terrorism around the world would still exist. This is a problem NOW. 

2) THEY are people, living breathing human beings who have been displaced, widowed and/or orphaned by a terrible force and they are literally fleeing for their lives. Most of them have a satchel with all their belongings. So while these types of statements are being thrown around on Facebook from your iPhone or computer, while sipping your latte in your cozy home counting down the days until Christmas, they are fighting to survive. And quite bravely, I might add, as they are now facing opposition from all around the world. 

It is the churches responsibility to take care of the orphaned and the hungry, but not our governments (written on a conservative website in response to the Bible's clear expectations of how to handle immigrants.

This one may be the one that bothers me the most, as I somewhat agree with it, but also disagree. I don't know the person who posted this comment. However, I know people who agree with it. And they are the same people who were so strongly opposed to the legalization of same-sex marriage because this is a "Christian nation", yet the church should handle taking care of it but the government shouldn't? Uh... let me get this straight: We shouldn't allow same-sex couples to get married because we are a Christian nation, where we have a constitution that clearly defines a separation of church and state and the freedom of religion, yet the government shouldn't take care of the refugees but the church should??? HOW THE CRAP DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE?!?! Seriously, I actually am open to having this one explained to me, because I don't understand a mindset that uses one argument to justify something and the exact opposite to justify something different. Help me understand. 

One of them helped bomb Paris, they are dangerous and we are inviting war into our country.

Yep. A terrorist in Paris was found with a passport near his body that proved he had been in Syria months before and traveled by boat to Paris. So of course, the logical conclusion is that ALL Syrians are terrorists and ALL of them are going to have an agenda, and they aren't actually fleeing they're actually invading. Yep, logic. Thank you Mr. Spock. 

Let's look at this real fast: In 1998, there were nearly 550,000 estimated gang members in the United States. 34% were African American, 46% were Hispanic, 12% were Caucasian and 6% were Asian (1998 Gang Research). Clearly we have violence in this country already. Albeit, not violence trying to take over the country, but violence that kills innocent lives every single year. We have a penal system that is overcrowded. And we have murderers, serial killers and sociopaths that are still on the loose. But we're turning away women and children because we're afraid some of them may be terrorists. And if we're truly looking at ISIS, sorry to break it to you, but we already have some of them on our soil. It makes no difference if there are or aren't any hiding in the Syrian refugees. 

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Here is the thing. My 100% firm belief is that we are supposed to be Christlike in all we do, whether it's opening our boarders to homeless refugees or sharing the gospel with the homeless down the street. Several times in the gospels, Jesus says not to turn people away, or not to judge, or even not to fear. This verse really stuck out to me about this subject. Yes, the context is that we should be welcoming of Jesus, but as his followers, aren't we also supposed to be exhibiting Christ-like love that treats others as Christ would have? In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the story of the servant who buried his coin in the sand rather than multiplying it like the other servants. He then explains that when God comes down on the day of judgement, there will be some on his right and some on his left. 

"'But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,you were doing it to me!’
“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.'"
- Matthew 25:31-46 NLT

I realize Jesus has already come, and that he won't be coming again until who knows when (please God let it be soon!), but what if....what if it were Jesus fleeing with the refugees? Weren't Mary and Joseph in fact refugees on the night Herod planned on killing them? What if that last inn keeper hadn't even offered the stable to them? What if Jesus were a refugee and we denied him into this country because we don't want to deal with more immigrants? How would that make you feel, know you turned away the Son of God away because your foreign policy didn't allow for it? We should be seeing Jesus in all the faces that are turning to this supposed "Christian" nation, and showing them Jesus through our actions. What are they experiencing instead? Adversity. Hate. Prejudice. What if that were Jesus? 

I just want to challenge us as a church, as a nation, as some random person reading this.... think of who these people as a whole...not just as one or two or even 10,000 that may be trying to kill for the sake of killing. Think of the children and women who have lost husbands, brothers, fathers, sons...It's so wrong for a nation that stands on it's sturdy "Christian" values to turn away what Jesus himself was at the beginning of his life.

“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’" (Matt 25:45)

*** I want to be clear why I put Christian in quotations so often. I myself am a firm believer and follower of Jesus. However, I do not believe this country is a nation founded on Christian values. I believe it is a nation that has a diverse way of thinking, and we have since the beginning of our founding. But the basis of many arguments is that we shouldn't do this or that because we are a "Christian" nation. Which seems to me a very invalid argument.