Tear Gas and Other Things That Make Me Cry

I have observed that within the ranks of my brothers and sisters in Christ that they have very different opinions as to how to handle the situation on our southern borders. There seem to be only two voices, those who quote the scripture as support for allowing the foreigner, the orphan, the widow, the one in need into the country and those who say let them come in but let them do it legally.

Recently I posted on Facebook:

I too am seeking an understanding of all that is taking place on our borders. Is not Jesus emphasis on me the individual having the responsibility to love the "other" whose need I see? In other words, it's me taking care of my neighbor. So I should go to the border and sponsor people to the number that I can take into my home and care for until they can care for themselves. Just a thought. We seem to yell the loudest when we are furthest away from the action.

Last night someone was kind enough to write a response.

The scripture doesn't speak to governments to care for the needy. It speaks to people. The government was to maintain order through law. I used to work for an immigration attorney. If you are really concerned about immigrants, there is a way you can help personally. Take responsibility for someone. Many who speak about love, but when it becomes personal, it begins to sound strange like sounding of brass, tinkling of cymbals.

Of course, I liked this response because it underscored my own opinion. I think we in the Church need to be very careful as to how we apply scripture to situations the scripture does not address. All too often we “pretend” to be advocates by citing a scripture, voicing an opinion, lifting a prayer, but doing nothing tangible. It’s not only a hypocrisy in the Church, the people yelling the loudest for allowing anyone who wants to come into the country exempt from any sort of vetting, are unwilling to get involved personally by bringing an immigrant family into their gated communities until that family is established.

The whole situation seems more like a political game than a move of compassion on behalf of those living in difficult situations.  Personally, as an ambassador of Christ, I do not want to be used as a pawn by politicians for their purposes.