Re: Executive Order 13769

I have to say something.
As a pastor, preacher, patriot, and father thinking about his sons' futures, this is getting messy; I hope you will understand.

On the one hand: as an individual, as a preacher, a Lutheran, and a Biblical interpreter, I agree with my denominational founder that soldiers and civic leaders have a duty to protect the people they have sworn to protect. President Donald Trump needs to do what he believes will best protect the lives, people and interests of those over whom he has sworn to preside. He should not expose these same people to harm, unless the harm will ultimately protect the majority of the people or the values and tenets by which these peoples live.

On the other hand, as a Christian, I am adopted into the Judeo-Christian perspective. I just cannot support this rally cry of "Us first" or "America First" except if that "first-ness" is somehow used to serve the needs of the world and creation. Our scripture--both Testaments--overwhelmingly support a bias toward vulnerable people including orphaned children, widowed spouses, legal aliens, prisoners, and fleeing refugees...not mention this creation which we are supposed to be stewarding. The scripture offers little to no preference regarding the people's ethnicity or religion. We are asked simply to remember that we, too, were aliens in foreign lands and in God's righteousness. Scripture offers overarching commands about how we are to have compassion for others, and many, many specific commands on how to provide for them, as well as central commands on how we are to interpret and apply Biblical and non-scriptural laws.

Centrally, we are to "Love God with all our heart, soul and strength." Second (a rule that actually under-girds and supports the first) we are to "Love your neighbor as yourself." As yourself! Maybe you don't like that law, but it is central! "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these greatest two" (Matthew 22:40). That means, we are called to love the refugee from war-torn Syria as if we were that same refugee seeking asylum! We are called to be a part of the action, desire, or force that helps that man, woman, or child who sincerely needs refuge. No, we are not called to be completely reckless in our actions. We should vet our immigrants so that more people are helped than harmed!

However--to be completely honest--we Jews and Christians, at the least, are called into personal risk for the sake of our foreign neighbor, no less than our domestic neighbors. The "good Samaritan" was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but Jesus made him an example of a person who put himself in harm's way to help the stranger. We are not free to define our neighbors; we are called to BE neighbors. The struggle as faithful citizens is that we need to decide which actions will do the best for our central values and/or the greatest number of our neighbors, regardless of proximity, or even of faith!

Before you argue each little point, it goes further. Nations will be "judged" by how they deal with these refugees and immigrants. That is Biblical. I could site at least four passages to every contrary view. I could argue from the central lens of scripture regarding God's compassion and our call to show love and compassion in response to God's. All the prophets and the Biblical story proclaim that nations will fall or self-destruct when they give into faithless self-protection over caring for the vulnerable, including foreign residents and refugees. Nations--according to that same Bible--are blessed when they take care of the vulnerable, its widows and orphans, its veterans, and its resident aliens and refugees seeking safety. Does that mean nothing bad will EVER happen? No!

Here's the thing. We are not only judged by God. We are judged by God through our neighboring nations, foreign refugees, even by God through our enemies. If we prove ourselves to be dis-compassionate, self-interested, and hypocritical, then we have only served to prove their propaganda. We will prove ourselves to be the enemy, the bully on the block. A dis-compassionate policy toward refugees and immigrants who have, or are going through, our vetting process may seem--on the surface--to be protective. In reality, (depending on how it is written, but much more on how it's interpreted) it can be incredibly pugilistic, divisive, and dangerous to the very people it was meant to protect. People, soldiers, refuge seekers, many others may lose their lives. Nations, including ours, are put at risk, especially when the policy either targets specific people or gives preference to others, (i.e. "minority religions") when those categories are too broad and do not fairly or accurately define the people who we are trying to allow in or screen out!

Our president and others should provide guidance, orders, and laws to protect his/her/their people. My argument is that this executive order was signed and put into effect without a fair and accurate look at the current rigor of our vetting process. It may have fulfilled a campaign promise, but it was carried out in a way that divided too many innocent people from their families and occupations. It placed way too many innocent people in harmful situations. It favors the "minority religions" of targeted countries, when most/all of the affected people were already vulnerable and put at risk regardless of their religious backgrounds. Even more worrisome, it will be perceived and used in a way that will place these States in a very negative and dangerous shadow. I believe that this executive order, and any like it that may follow, will lead to more death and destruction for us and for the nations than the policies and procedures that were already in place.

I am often brought to tears when I read the message of the Statue of Liberty or in Lincoln's Memorial. When I pledge my allegiance to the flag or place my hand on my heart to honor those who have sacrificed, it is those words that echo loudest in my head. Now, it destroys me that some people cannot hear or read those same words except as "liberal propaganda." No they aren't. This is America trying to live something even bigger than America.

These United States of First Peoples and immigrants is incredibly messy. However, there has been no greater opportunity than ours in these few centuries to risk our selves for the sake of all those who need a chance at asylum, food, shelter, and basic life necessities.

God help us.
God bless these United States of America.
God bless those who need us to be here for them!

the thrushes' game

I cut away that piece and
tossed it behind me
because it hurt like hell
when they would
twit and scritch and
pick while it
took ragged breaths
and beat and bled but 
sometimes
I can still hear them
poking and pecking
at it and
I guess
it makes them feel
brave or
victorious over
its dead flesh even
though tossing gangrenous
gristle about
seems a sick
and bitter
game but the
hermitage insists that
it's part of her healing process so
I hope they will
finish it now so
all their flittering and
tittering can finally fade to
nothing

Monday, 5:24 a.m.

Early commuters
chase time, wet lines; while her hand
rests here on my ribs.

Leaving One

Has the horizon yet released 
that one
who promised to walk five hundred,
and then five hundred miles more?
Do you suppose the drifting sand has hidden
this one
who, with promises, had sat down beside?
No, more likely,
wandering winds, and
thieving tides
have taken that one
and this one
leaving...
one.

Twenty-four Bible texts related to foreigners, refugees, and immigrants

How does the Bible say we are to view and treat the alien, refugees, immigrants. It's a bit overwhelming, but here are a number of passages that apply, some more than others. I will add emphases, but leave them uninterpreted. Many are about 'resident aliens' rather than refugees, but not all. (Note that the English Standard Version accurately translates the Hebrew word as 'sojourner' and 'sojourner in your land' instead of 'alien' and 'resident alien.') We may find ways to excuse or rationalize why many do not apply in current situations... but does that circumvent the heart and purpose of these texts? And perhaps non-believers or those of others faiths are free to see things differently, and act differently, but we are people called to obey more than the surface of the words, but the intent and heart that gave rise to the words. (See Mark 12.30-31.) We fail. And since we are all alien refugees, and immigrants in God's realm, I am grateful that he receives and forgives. How will we respond?...

Exodus 22  21 You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23  9 You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Leviticus 19  33 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.'' (English Standard Version)

Leviticus 23  22 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 1  16 I charged your judges at that time: “Give the members of your community a fair hearing, and judge rightly between one person and another, whether citizen or resident alien.

Deuteronomy 10  18 [It is the Lord] who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. 19 You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 24  20 When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.

Deuteronomy 26  5 You shall make this response before the Lord your God: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.''

Deuteronomy 27  19 “Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”

Psalm 39:12“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not hold your peace at my tears. For I am your passing guest, an alien, like all my forebears.

Isaiah 16:3-4“Give counsel, grant justice, make your shade like nigh at the height of noon; hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive; let the outcasts of Moab settle among you; be a refuge to them from the destroyer.”

Jeremiah 7  4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.”  5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, 7 then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever.

Zechariah 7  10 Do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.

Malachi 3  5 Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Matthew 25   41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ...43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 

Mark 7  26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Mark 12   30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Acts 28   2 The natives showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and welcomed all of us around it.

Romans 12  13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Hebrews 13  2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Philippians 2:4  “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

1 John 3:17  But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

Ephesians 2  19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.

1 Peter 3  9 Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing.