The Space Between ICE and Immigrants: We Need Courageous Christians Now
Every church welcomes everyone. Just look at their website, it says so, clear as day.
Every church is an “all-people church”. There it is on massive LED screens in their pristine lobby as proof.
Every church loves its neighbors. It’s in vibrant bold type on their volunteer t-shirts, so it must be true.
There isn’t a Christian faith community in this country that doesn’t profess to be committed to caring for everyone in their path in a way that emulates Jesus.
But often, something happens in the journey between aspiration and incarnation, when platitudes and slogans and scriptures need to be embodied, when the rubber of our creeds meets the jagged road of national crisis.
Moments of consequence often reveal when words are the extent of our religious convictions.
ICE arrived in our state this week, and the responses of our churches have ranged from inspiring to heartbreaking to infuriating.
Some have made bold statements from their pulpits and platforms, unequivocally denouncing the unlawful violence against our Latino and immigrant communities as the sin that it is.
Some have rushed to become organizational hubs for members of the community looking to lawfully and peacefully make their faith tangible by standing between their neighbors and the outside oppressors.
Others have chosen a quieter but beautifully subversive path, creating below-the-radar networks for providing vulnerable people with food, transportation, childcare, and legal assistance.
Still others have leaned into the intimate relational fabric of their diverse communities by supporting at-risk human beings whose lives they were already fully invested in before ICE ever arrived.
All of these approaches have merit. They each have their place and their wisdom, and each is a collective expression of the mission of Jesus.
But far too many local churches across this country are not choosing to leverage their pulpits or offer their buildings or open their doors or do anything beyond making carefully-worded statements that are little more than t-shirt slogans and lobby sign platitudes. They are staying in the perceived safety of ambiguity and hoping the storm will pass without hitting too close to home or bringing too much turbulence.
The Church was never meant to be a place to avoid the world; it was meant to be a people that transforms it.
Christians, what is happening right now isn’t about God.
God isn’t going to stand in the street and document gross abuses of power against strangers with a phone.
God isn’t going to escort a family to school so they can have a bit of normalcy in abnormal days.
God isn’t going to magically chase away armies of masked thugs preying upon God’s people in the streets around your campus.
God isn’t going to make it clear that violence against anyone, regardless of their immigration status, will not be tolerated.
God isn’t going to stand in front of dozens or hundreds or thousands in your church this Sunday and remind them why your community exists.
No, Christians, you need to do these things because what you believe compels you to.
So, in a way, this isn’t about God.
This is about the people of your faith community deciding what they stand for and what they will not abide; it’s about you deciding what your faith in Jesus calls you to do and be, personally.
It is about a clear policy and tactic from a political power that is unlawfully and violently targeting Latino people and immigrants, one that you either specifically name and condemn or tacitly approve.
What ICE is doing under the direct guidance of a political party is an abomination and a sin and an act of violence against the least of these, and if that can’t be said because many in the community support that party, people are choosing political tribalism over spiritual convictions.
Prayer isn’t worthless, but it isn’t an excuse to merely pray. Prayer includes the invitation to be moved.
There is a turbulent, terrifying space between ICE agents and immigrants, between prejudice and the Latino community, between a sinful political force and the diverse human beings made in the image of God.
You are called to stand bravely in the space.
May Christians throughout this nation and the churches they call home find themselves there.
Amen. As a resident of Charlotte I have seen this first hand. Saturday they were hanging around an apartment complex that houses many Hispanics. We have a multi-cultural church and all who are undocumented stayed home this past Sunday. Siempra had training at one of our churches here to help people support folk impacted by these masked thugs. They are carrying around rifles that make them look like they are going to war. They have arrested 250 people here in Charlotte and claim that 44 have some criminal record, none were murders or rapists! What a surprise. The people in our city do not know where they have taken their friends or family members. Our children have been afraid to go to school or their parents have been afraid for them. Our Hispanic businesses are either closed or empty of customers. Real world impacts of this immigration over rearch. Just heard they are leaving our city, but ICE remains so we have to remain vigilant. Hopefully our congregants feel safe enough to come back to church on Sunday, if they do indeed leave as the Sheriff has been told they are. We have to stand in the breach for these people just as the French Resistance stood against the Nazis or persons running the underground railroad did back in the days of slavery. At least I think so.
Well said, thank you.