I came across this story on
the Internet. You may know that O. Henry is not O. Henry’s birth name. He was
born William Sydney Porter, the same name under which he was arrested, tried,
and convicted of embezzlement, the same name he took with him to prison in
1898.
While in prison, a guard took
a liking to him and mentored him about how to clean up his life when he was
released. When the time came for Bill Porter to leave prison, he told his
mentor, “I
can’t leave this prison with my old name. I need a new name for a new
life. … I want your name.” The prison guard responded, “My
name? My name is Otto Henry. For generations, there have
been Otto Henrys. Otto Henry is a good name, a respected
name. You may have my name, but only if you promise to take good
care of it.”
Isn’t
that what Christ asks of us? Take my name if you choose; call yourself a
Christian if you’d like; but only if you promise to take good care of the
name.”
It is
times like the ones in which we are living that test the ability or the
willingness of Christians to take good care of that name. During our lifetimes,
there have been other such opportunities to show that we were serious at the
moment of our baptism about taking that name and taking good care of it.
There
was the civil rights movement, the struggle for women’s rights, the movement to
end the war in Vietnam and others. Today it is the struggle for immigrant and
refugee justice.
In these times it is not popular to care about
the parents who come here, fleeing violence in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
or elsewhere. It is not popular to care about the human beings who are being
thrown into immigrant prisons, or their children who are taken from them and
sent somewhere else…not even most Christians believe we should care about these
people. A recent poll concluded that among Evangelical Christians, only 25%
believe Christians have a responsibility toward these people. Mainline
Christians fared little better. Fewer than a majority said we who took Christ’s
name should care for it enough to care about these our brothers and sisters.
Interestingly, two-thirds of those claiming no
religious affiliation said we have that responsibility. What does that say? The
less connected one is to a church, the poll determined, the more they care
about these brothers and sisters. Now, that is a sad commentary particularly on
those who claim to believe that what we do unto them, we are doing unto Christ.
So, why us? Why should this small band of
Christians who gather here care when so many of our fellow-Christians not only
don’t care but condemn and disapprove of us for doing so?
Well, could be because we took scripture
seriously enough to recognize that on dozens of occasions God tells us to treat
the foreigner as a part of the community and how Jesus said that when we
welcome the stranger, we have welcomed him. We saw Jesus transfigured and took
note of the fact that there were but two prophets invited to the ceremony.
Moses and Elijah, the two who openly and bravely confronted a lawless Pharaoh
and a ruthless king.
And we listened when God opened our hearts and
minds to learning some of the truth, opened us enough to learn some of the
facts and the history of our immigration system. We invited law enforcement
officers to speak about how they relate to undocumented people in our
community. In our studies, we learned that the claim that undocumented workers
commit more crimes than US citizens was simply not true.
We listened to those who administer public
benefits programs when they came here to tell us the truth about whether
undocumented people are draining public benefit programs and costing taxpayers
billions. They are not, is what we are told. Other than emergency medical services,
these folks get no benefits. No food stamps, no welfare. We learned that these
workers are paying billions into the social security trust fund but will never
be eligible for a dime’s return.
We listened to undocumented families tell
their stories and found them to be so much more complicated and valid than what
we here from the politicians and the media.
Then we studied the history of US immigration
law. The first immigration law was enacted in 1790 and limited immigration to
free, white people, no people of color unless they were brought here in chains;
no native Americans though this was their land.
Next came the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
No Chinese need apply for the right to immigrate. In 1924 Congress passed
national origin quotas and limited immigration to northern Europeans to the
near exclusion of people from southern Europe, Africa or Asia. Those racists
quotas stayed in effect for 40 years, until Congress enacted laws permitting
family to join family members already in the US. Called family reunification,
this law is derided by some politicians as “chain migration.”
During these years, agricultural interests lobbied
for laws and immigration policies to allow them to bring in cheaper, foreign
labor to work the fields. For decades, the government turned a blind eye as
employers in the ag and hospitality industries illegally hired thousands and
then millions of undocumented workers.
They came and were hired, married, had
children, lived honorable, productive lives until a few years ago when the
political winds shifted. By then, millions of undocumented workers had married
US citizens, had children who were citizens and were suddenly faced with having
their families ripped apart and the breadwinner deported to a land he or she
had not known for most of their lives.
And then we looked to the word of God. We
studied scripture. We read God’s repeated cry to treat the foreigner as we
treat those who are born in this country. We read in the Old Testament that God
ordered Sanctuary cities be created as places of refuge for those who had been
unjustly accused. We accompanied Mary and Joseph as they were forced to flee
the violence in their own land to take the baby Jesus and seek asylum in Egypt.
We read in Paul’s writings that when welcoming strangers, some later learned
they had provided hospitality to angels and hadn’t even known it.
And we actually met real people facing the
loss of children or parents to deportation. Some began to attend our church and
became a part of our fellowship. Joselyn is one. She still considers herself a
part of Highlands but has a job that requires her to work Sundays. I’ll never
forget the first night she walked into Highlands for a Lenten supper.
Wide-eyed, nervous, she turned to the person who brought her and said, “All
these white people, what do they care about us?”
The answer to Joselyn’s question is simple.
God called us to care. We listened.
It’s easy to understand why
God called Samuel. Easy call. Here was a young man dedicated to God from his
birth. Young Samuel spends his days taking care of the elderly Priest Eli. The
closest Samuel ever came to committing a sin was when he once giggled at the
sounds made by old Eli as he snored in the night.
Why would God not call
Samuel? But, why us. Why have we been called to do that which many of our
Christian brothers and sisters find deeply objectionable?
It has to do with our faith.
Clarence Jordan was a mid 20th Century preacher in South Georgia.
Talk about someone called to do the unpopular. Clarence was called to invite
blacks to worship with whites in the 1950s. Clarence was shunned and his fellow
Christians even tried to shoot him, burn down his church. When he died, they
wouldn’t even allow his remains to be laid to rest in the county.
So, Clarence understood the
power of God’s call, the depth of God’s word, and the meaning of faith. He said
fear was “the polio of the soul, which prevents us from walking in faith.”
Indeed, there is a lot of fear being manufactured about our immigrant and
refugee brothers and sisters and it is causing a lot of our Christian friends
to suffer paralysis of the soul.
Faith is different. It is
incompatible with fear. Faith, Clarence said, is the activation of our
aspirations. It is our convictions translated into deeds. It is,” this
courageous Christian said, “the word become flesh.”
Practicing Sanctuary is what
Clarence Jordan would have called “the substance of faith.”
At Highlands, religion is not
a spectator sport but it is rather our convictions translated into deeds. Christianity
is not how we think or what we believe. It is how we live. Following Christ is
not creedal and safe, but engaged and risky.
Why us? Why have we been
called to do that which so many despise? The question answers itself. Christ
gave us his name and we promised to take good care of it. AMEN
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