I don’t think they love their children any less than I love my own, which tells me something about what their lives must be like, to send their babies away. Their children stream northward in droves—as many as 60,000 this year—and we don’t want them. We don’t want their skin lesions and their hungry bellies, we don’t want their parents and aunts and uncles likely to follow, we don’t want them taking our jobs and clogging our classrooms and driving without insurance on our roads. We have no place for them in our country and certainly not in our hearts.
I understand there are political and economic realities that don’t go away just because I feel pity. One political party sees in immigrants a chance to build its permanent dominance; the other fears destruction. The accountants, meanwhile, see fiscal disaster. We’re already trillions in debt, with unfunded liabilities that will bankrupt many unsuspecting communities in the coming decade. Worse still, a lower portion of Americans have jobs than at any time in recent memory. People are scared, and they are angry.
So some of them do all they know to do, when they see busloads of hungry immigrant children barreling into their communities. They form barricades, and they tell them to go home. They’re shouting at the accompanying phalanx of federal bureaucrats as well, but I don’t suppose that nuance is understood by the children looking fearfully at them through the bus windows. “We don’t want you here!” a man shouts. I suppose he speaks for a good many of us.
The U.S. government estimates 60,000 immigrant children this year. There are over 300,000 churches in America, most of them hewing to a mission of spreading some kind of good news. What good news? Salvation. The coming kingdom. A God whose will, we pray, be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And what is his will? That’s not for me to say, but it is for me to ask, and for you to ask. It’s for us to ask, and then to listen. Are we listening, we who spend millions to travel overseas carrying the Gospel to the lost, now that God is sending tens of thousands of them our way?
I know there are geopolitical practicalities that transcend the priorities of my stupid bleeding heart, but 300,000 churches and 60,000 children.
What if, instead of greeting the federal agents with protest signs, we greeted them with petitions? Give us these children. We will feed them, we will clothe them, we will give them shelter. We will teach them and we will pray over them. Their parents, God help them, sent them away, and now here we stand to make good on the faith or hope or desperation in which those mothers and fathers sent them forth. Give us these children, and we will find a way. We will show mercy, because while we can scarcely agree between ourselves on anything else, we agree that the kingdom of heaven includes a hand stretched out in love.
It’s utterly impractical, I know. But how have we done so far, Christians, with practicality? For Christ’s sake, let’s not be known for our practicality.
Comments
“I don’t think they love their children any less than I love my own” http://t.co/7lAAm68fUs
RT @tonywoodlief: “I don’t think they love their children any less than I love my own” http://t.co/7lAAm68fUs
“For Christ’s sake, let’s not be known for our practicality.” Via @tonywoodlief http://t.co/h6ZmFNOXcE
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
RT @mrDuncalfe: “For Christ’s sake, let’s not be known for our practicality.” Via @tonywoodlief http://t.co/h6ZmFNOXcE
“But how have we done so far, Christians, with practicality?” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @tonywoodlief: “But how have we done so far, Christians, with practicality?” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
“We don’t want their skin lesions and their hungry bellies…” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @tonywoodlief: “We don’t want their skin lesions and their hungry bellies…” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
300,000 churches and 60,000 children // http://t.co/smssC5LTkA
RT @will_mckay: 300,000 churches and 60,000 children // http://t.co/smssC5LTkA
RT @tonywoodlief: “We don’t want their skin lesions and their hungry bellies…” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
“We have no place for them in our country and certainly not in our hearts.” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
Thy kingdom come – http://t.co/kdNfpxEFF3 http://t.co/at9CMimzLA
RT @tonywoodlief: “We have no place for them in our country and certainly not in our hearts.” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @tonywoodlief: “We don’t want their skin lesions and their hungry bellies…” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
“Are we listening now that God is sending tens of thousands of them our way?” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @will_mckay: 300,000 churches and 60,000 children // http://t.co/smssC5LTkA
RT @tonywoodlief: “Are we listening now that God is sending tens of thousands of them our way?” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @tonywoodlief: “Are we listening now that God is sending tens of thousands of them our way?” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @tonywoodlief: “Are we listening now that God is sending tens of thousands of them our way?” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
“Give us these children, and we will show mercy.” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @tonywoodlief: “Give us these children, and we will show mercy.” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
For Christ’s sake, let’s not be known for our practicality. @tonywoodlief http://t.co/DRar5bpqp9
RT @tonywoodlief: “Give us these children, and we will show mercy.” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @will_mckay: 300,000 churches and 60,000 children // http://t.co/smssC5LTkA
Thy kingdom come – http://t.co/pCzZgZylwI http://t.co/tGupyncBws
“What if, instead of greeting the feds with protest signs we greeted them w/ ‘Give us these children.” http://t.co/GWbDIJgqm1 @tonywoodlief
RT @will_mckay: 300,000 churches and 60,000 children // http://t.co/smssC5LTkA
RT @tonywoodlief: “We don’t want their skin lesions and their hungry bellies…” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @tonywoodlief: “Give us these children, and we will show mercy.” http://t.co/bfLJ83SLwH
RT @millinerd: “What if, instead of greeting the feds with protest signs we greeted them w/ ‘Give us these children.” http://t.co/GWbDIJgqm…
RT @millinerd: “What if, instead of greeting the feds with protest signs we greeted them w/ ‘Give us these children.” http://t.co/GWbDIJgqm…
RT @millinerd: “What if, instead of greeting the feds with protest signs we greeted them w/ ‘Give us these children.” http://t.co/GWbDIJgqm…
RT @millinerd: “What if, instead of greeting the feds with protest signs we greeted them w/ ‘Give us these children.” http://t.co/GWbDIJgqm…
Thy kingdom come – http://t.co/yoYwpdgYr3 http://t.co/fBQP5UBTbg
RT @millinerd: “What if, instead of greeting the feds with protest signs we greeted them w/ ‘Give us these children.” http://t.co/GWbDIJgqm…
RT @will_mckay: 300,000 churches and 60,000 children // http://t.co/smssC5LTkA
RT @will_mckay: 300,000 churches and 60,000 children // http://t.co/smssC5LTkA
RT @will_mckay: 300,000 churches and 60,000 children // http://t.co/smssC5LTkA
There are 60,000 children coming across the border this year. There are 300,000 churches. http://t.co/TIWeRWzMRo
“For Christ’s sake, let’s not be known for our practicality” | Sand in the Gears » Thy kingdom come http://t.co/bkRb3mvXxO
RT @Mepaynl: There are 60,000 children coming across the border this year. There are 300,000 churches. http://t.co/TIWeRWzMRo
RT @Mepaynl: There are 60,000 children coming across the border this year. There are 300,000 churches. http://t.co/TIWeRWzMRo
RT @Mepaynl: There are 60,000 children coming across the border this year. There are 300,000 churches. http://t.co/TIWeRWzMRo
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Beautiful words from Tony Woodlief: “For Christ’s sake, let’s not be known for our practicality.” http://t.co/mQ6QBYBXL6
Thy kingdom come – http://t.co/ZzEhRAEqQe
@missmayn In a related story: http://t.co/KAY8pYu73w
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