Last Sunday in the wake of the terrible Paris attacks I prayed for imams and all Muslim leaders who need to reclaim and interpret their religions so that the world doesn’t mistakenly allow Daesh (a better term for the so-called “Islamic State”) to be accepted as a valid interpretation for Islam. My prayer, if you will, was for those who are fighting the theological and ideological fight to keep their religion from being hijacked.
But as I perused the news today, that prayer stuck in my throat. The prayer is answered, in a way, but there’s a new prayer. The first prayer was answered when #notinmyname started trending worldwide as Muslims (from teenagers on Instagram, to elders and clerics) came out to loudly denounce the “Islam” supposed practiced by Daesh. They are doing a great job. But are we?
Friends, I am sorry to say that we need to pray for ourselves, and for Christians worldwide, to keep our religion from being known as a religion of hatred and intolerance. I’m talking about the anti-refugee sentiment, the merciless attempts at border-closing, and some quite unabashed hatred of our supposed enemies.
For is it not violence to slam an open gate shut?
Is it not violence to deny shelter, food, water, and protection to those who have none? If a poor one dies for lack of food, while we have food and could give it, their death is on our hands, according to a long tradition of our faith and other faiths:
You shall welcome the stranger, for you were once strangers (says the Hebrew scripture Leviticus 19:34).
You shall welcome the stranger, for I am the stranger: whatever you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do to me (says Jesus in Matthew 25:40).
Many of you heard the good news announced on Sunday, that the refugees from Honduras with whom we have covenanted for support were finally and fully granted asylum to stay legally in the USA. We know, from walking this road with them, that the process of seeking asylum was far from easy. We know that even now it will still be hard and they will continue to need support as they build a permanent life here. But we also know that it is not only our religious duty, but our delight and our joy to be able to welcome them here. We are so privileged to be able to be of service in such a valuable way.
So let’s leave the “war on Christianity” and the Starbucks holiday cups far behind. Christianity is not, and never should be, a religion that draws lines keeping some out and others in. We need to proclaim loudly, not just with words but in clear action, that we worship and serve the Christ who was a refugee child, and who was born in a manger because there was no room in the inn. May our hearts and doors and governmental policies be open wide to welcome him this year.
Every Blessing,
Talitha