As many of you know, the MPC session voted in September to explore ways our congregation might come alongside and offer assistance to the Ordoñez family who, last summer, escaped extreme violence in Honduras. So far our assistance, for the most part, has been to help them navigate the vague and obscure ins and outs of the US legal system. Currently the Ordoñez family has legal status—they are not facing immediate deportation and won’t face deportation until their legal case has run its course. However, if the United States government refuses to give the Ordoñez family asylum, our congregation may need to talk about offering them sanctuary.
On Tuesday evening I attended an event at which I spoke publically about our congregations’ relationship with the Ordoñez family, about our help so far and about the possibility of providing sanctuary, should the need arise. Here is the text of the short speech I gave, on why a congregation should be prepared to provide sanctuary for those fleeing violence in Central America.
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If you were to ask me why a congregation should be prepared to provide sanctuary for a family that has come to the United States to avoid extreme violence in Central America, I’d answer that question by asking you a question in return: what if it was one of your neighbors?
What if one of your neighbors owned a small business and lived in a city where organized crime, with the cooperation of law enforcement extorted large sums of money from business owners?
What if one of your neighbors suffered beyond anything you can imagine, because he or she tried to avoid participating in the extortion?
What if, in order to provide safety for his or her family, one of your neighbors had to travel great distances by bus, across several international borders?
What if, for the crime of attempting to provide a safe place for a family, one of your neighbors was thrown in jail and faced deportation back to the place of violence from which he or she was fleeing?
What if you knew that your own country’s foreign policies were largely responsible for creating the conditions that fostered the violence that caused hardship for your neighbors?
If one of your neighbors had to face the kind of hardship I just described to you, I’m guessing you’d offer to help in any way possible, because neighborliness is something we value.
Well, here’s the thing: if we use a Biblical and historically Christian understanding of what it means to be neighbor, then you need to know that all the awful things I’ve described have happened and are happening to your neighbors. Some of these neighbors live here in the East Bay, some of them still live in Honduras and Guatemala and El Salvador, but your neighbors—our neighbors—really need our help, and what kind of Christians would we be if we didn’t lend a hand, if we didn’t offer support, if we didn’t provide sanctuary?
If we use a Biblical and historically Christian understanding of what it means to be neighbor, then the question shouldn’t be why my congregation might—if asked—be willing to offer sanctuary—the question is why your congregation is not offering sanctuary.
Friends, our neighbors need our support. Let’s see what we can do to help.
Ben