The Time for a Reckless and Restless Response is Now

Response to the Immigration Crisis
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church

CNN:  On July 23, 2017, dozens of undocumented immigrants were found in a tractor-trailer parked in a San Antonio Walmart parking lot.  Eight of the people in the truck were already dead and two more died after being hospitalized.  Dozens more were severely injured. These are just a fraction of the number of people who die each year trying to flee their homelands looking for a better life in the United States.  Every year hundreds die making the journey and most of the deaths occur while being smuggled.[1]  One of the survivors of this San Antonio incident said the smuggler told him that people linked to the cartel would charge 11,000 pesos (about $540) for protection.[2] Many migrants who cross the border illegally willfully pay smugglers to do so. Often they become victims of trafficking – either coerced into forced labor or prostitution.[3]
Genesis 37:23-28:  “When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe. . . and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels. . . Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, own own flesh.’ And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.”
Madonna con el niño
New York Times:  Elsa Johana Ortiz Enriquez and her 8-year old son Anthony leave Guatemala and migrate to the United States. On May 26, 2018 Elsa and Anthony are picked up by The Border Patrol.  Anthony is sent to a shelter for migrant children. Elsa is sent back to her home in Guatemala.  It is unclear when – or even if – she will be reunited with her son again.  Because the processing and detention of migrant families involves multiple agencies – Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Justice and Health and Human Services – there has been poor coordination making it difficult to track children and parents once their paths are forced to diverge at the border.[4]
Jeremiah 31:15: “Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
The United Nations’ Refugee Agency:  Gang warfare and violence have transformed parts of Central America into some of the most dangerous places on earth. In recent years, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have experienced a dramatic escalation in organized crime by gangs. Homicide rates are among the highest ever recorded in these countries. From 2011 to 2016, the number of people from these countries seeking refuge in surrounding countries has increased by 2,249 percent – the majority are women and children. Hundreds of thousands of parents have fled with their families and, in many cases, children have made the perilous journey alone. These unaccompanied children are some of the world’s most vulnerable refugees.[5]
Matthew 2:13-15: After the magi had paid homage to the baby Jesus and had departed, “an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod.”
Over and over in the past weeks I have heard people saying, “This is not who we are. This is not America.” And while I would like for that to be true, the fact of the matter is that this IS America and this has been America since its inception.  Russell Contreras, writing for the Associated Press, in an article this past week pointed to several examples of America taking children from their parents[6]:
·       Slavery – children of black slaves were born into slavery and could be sold by owners at will; from 1835 until 1870 the Episcopal Church was, as a body, largely silent with respect to the institution of slavery. It was not until the Civil Rights Era that the Episcopal Church, as a whole, was supportive of the movement; however many of our churches and their members participated in white flight thereby denuding local populations of the diversity necessary for economic stability and job creation. The black population remained largely walled-­off in their ghettoized locations, replete with few jobs, poor housing and even poorer schools.[7] We continue to see the effects of this today.
·       Native American Boarding Schools – after the Wounded Knee Massacre, Native American families were forced to send their children to boarding schools.  More than 250,000 children across Canada and the United States were removed from their parents and placed in government- and church-run schools.  The goal of the schools was to “Americanize” children by introducing them to white customs and white history. The Episcopal Church ran at least 18 of these boarding schools and has yet to apologize.[8]
·       Poverty – in the early 1900s some states removed children from poor families and placed them in orphanages. Within a couple of decades this practice stopped – for white children – but poverty was still used as a reason to remove children from Native American and black families.
This is what it is like for non-white America.  And those of us who are white America need to open our eyes to see this harsh truth.  Because until our eyes are open we are destined to repeat this ugly history again and again and again.  In 1944, Kaj Munk, a Danish Lutheran Pastor wrote the following words for a community newsletter:
What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: “Faith, hope, and love”? That sounds beautiful. But I would say–courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is . . . a holy rage–the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth…a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth, and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God. And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish…but never the chameleon.[9]  
Kaj Munk was killed by the Gestapo on January 4, 1944, shortly after writing these words. 
Our task today is recklessness – the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity.
Leviticus 19:33-34:  “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Psalm 146:8-9: “The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.”
Hebrews 13:1-2: “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
Matthew 25:35-36: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”
My friends, what is happening at our southern border is an atrocity, it is a moral outrage, it is Sin.  And you and I must find ways to channel the spirit of restlessness God has planted within us or our history will only continue to repeat.  We must channel that spirit of restlessness to change history.  We must recklessly rage against complacency. . . . restlessly and recklessly seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God.
·       Contact your elected officials every day.
·       Stay informed – read multiple sources, fact check, read some more.
·       Practice Self-care – yes that too is a restless, reckless way to change history.  Turn off the TV and put your phone in a desk drawer for at least a couple hours each day.  Go for a walk, read something “just for fun,” pet your dog or cat, play a game with family or friends. It is ok to take a break. You will be a better responder if you stay healthy and strong.
·       And Pray – for God’s sake and the sake of humanity – pray! and include a petition asking God to help you know how best to use the gift of restlessness you have been given to help in this present situation.


[1] Holly Yan and Jason Morris, “San Antonio Driver Says He Didn’t KnowImmigrants Were in Truck,” CNN, July 25, 2017, accessed June 21, 2018; and Holly Yan, “The DeadlyToll of Human Smuggling and Trafficking in the US,CNN, July 27, 2017, accessed June 21, 2018.


[2] Yan.

[3] Yan.

[4] Miriam Jordan, “’I Can’t Go Without My Son,’ A Mother Pleaded As She WasDeported to Guatemala,The New York Times, June 17, 2018, , accessed June 21, 2018.

[5] “Central America Refugee Crisis,” UNHCR, https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/central-america/, accessed June 21, 2018.

[6] Russell Contreras, “AP Explains: US Has Split Up Families Throughout Its History,” AP, June 21, 2018, accessed June 21, 2018.

[7] Task Force on the Legacy of Slavery, “Call to Faithfulness; an Invitation toa Committed Journey.  Final Report of theTask Force on the Legacy of Slavery: Executive Summary.  Report to the 176th AnnualConvention,” November 22-23, 2013, Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, accessed June 22, 2018.

[8] G. Jeffrey MacDonald, “A Shocking History,” The Living Church, February 28, 2018, accessed June 21, 2018.


[9] Kaj Munk in Anna Madsen, “KajMunk: Martyr, Mentor of Epiphanic Recklessness,” OMG Center for Theological Conversation, January 4, 2016, accessed June 22, 2018.

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