"Is such the fast that I choose?" (Isaiah 58)
As United Methodists we are called to live lives of radical welcome. Our walk with Christ, our Christian history and our Wesleyan roots call for us to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land. That holiness is based on our having been created in the image of God and our being the hands of Christ in our world. Scripturally, from the beginning through the final pages of the Bible, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit give us instructions on responding to their love for us by showing our love for them by leading holy lives.
As United Methodists, we also turn to John Wesley and the Wesleyan movement, which was a commitment to a holiness project, to learn how we can fully embrace that project. We have scripture, reason, tradition and experience to study when seeking to turn our faith into action. As people of faith, we have questions to ask as we strive to live as disciples of Christ.
What does it mean to live lives of radical welcome? How are the connections between personal piety, social holiness, and action for justice as a Christian witness part of our spiritual practice? How do Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25 give us guidance for living into the world and helping it become God's kingdom on earth? How do we live our faith individually, communally and holistically? How do we address critical social concerns as a spiritual practice? How do we decide which social concern or concerns to address? How do we build radical hospitable communities? How does Matthew 5:43-48 give us guidance in doing so? Do you see yourself as a sinner or saint, and why? Scripturally, which does Christ see you as and call you to be? What does it mean to be created in the image of God? Who is the stranger, and have you ever been one?
The biblical meaning and practice of hospitality was one of welcoming the stranger. In the Hebrew Bible, God cares for the exiles and strangers. In the New Testament, Jesus becomes a refugee, an asylum seeker and is undocumented at the time of his crucifixion. He also models care for strangers and sends the Holy Spirit to guide us in living lives of radical welcome. Theologically, the stranger among us may very well be God, Christ or an angel. Over the centuries the meaning of hospitality has shed the idea of welcoming the stranger and very often means welcoming friends, relatives, close neighbors and members of our particular social group.
As we ponder living radical lives, we remember that we have been created in God's image. How do we live into that knowledge and partner with God to bring peace on earth and goodwill toward all?
Resources
- The Invisible: Girls A Memoir, by Sarah Thebarge
After surviving breast cancer, Sarah Thebarge moved to Portland, Oregon, to start over. There, a chance encounter with an exhausted refugee Somali mother and her daughters transformed her life. Sarah's outreach to the family became a source of courage and a lifeline for herself.
www.sarahthebarge.com/books
- The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community, by Mary Pipher
This book moves beyond the headlines into the homes of refugees from around the world. Working as a cultural broker, teacher and therapist, Mary Pipher opens our eyes and our hearts to those with whom we share the future.
- Movie: The Visitor, directed by Tom McCarthy
A lonesome widower and college economics professor finds his mundane existence suddenly shaken up when he befriends a pair of illegal immigrants, one of whom has recently been threatened with deportation by U.S. immigration authorities.
www.amazon.com/The-Visitor-Richard-Jenkins/dp/B0015OKWKI
- For a list of films on immigration that cover a wide variety of immigration topics visit:
www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/immigration
United Methodist Women Connection
Suggestions for Action
Organize a refugee resettlement committee in your church or among a group of churches, and resettle a refugee or refugee family in the near future.
Contact Joya Colon-Berezon, jcberezen@cws.global.org, (212) 870-3304.
For complete information visit www.cwsglobal.org/what-we-do/refugees
Create a new Justice for Our Neighbors site to provide hospitality and legal assistance to low-income immigrants from across the world. Join other United Methodist congregations in welcoming immigrants with compassion, dignity and love.
For more information visit www.njfon.org
Become an immigrant-welcoming congregation. Join other United Methodist Women members in their journey to become an immigrant-welcoming congregation by equipping churches to travel from mercy to justice, from service-only to incarnational friendship, and from ministering to being transformed in the journey.
www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/immigration/welcoming-congregation