It is unsettling how often it is necessary to add our voice to the prophetic voices of the Church in response to decisions and practices of the present administration…
While President Trump has today signed an executive order promising to “keep families together,” and this is good, the order does not address families already separated by the policy. In fact, the administration has no plan at present on how to reunite 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents.
We recognize that issues with immigration and deportation are not unique to this administration. Over 3 million people were deported under the Obama administration. Our system needs a complete overhaul. What is being done, however, is taking the worst of past administrations, holding it up as unchangeable law, and then enforcing it with unbending cruelty and using it as a bargaining chip for legislation.
The Trump Administration’s recent enforcement and defense of separating children from their parents at the border is only biblical in keeping with the likes of Pharaoh and Herod – both rulers known for their cruelty and oppression in order to keep their seats of power.
The Kingdom of Jesus has no borders or boundaries. It covers the whole earth as the waters cover the seas. If we are to call Jesus, Lord, and mean it, we must be Kingdom of God people first. This is where we pledge our allegiance. To pledge it anywhere else is idolatry. We are followers of Jesus before we are members of any party, or follow any party line or organization, and the call to follow Jesus will, at some point, put us at odds with all parties and organizations, sometimes including the Church.
The call to followers of Jesus is to welcome the stranger (and their children). Jesus saves some of his harshest words for those who bring such trauma upon children. “Woe to the one who causes one of these little ones to stumble. It would be better if a millstone was hung around their necks and be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Mike Neelley
Executive Director, Tierra Nueva
June 20, 2018
