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Christian Government—What Would That Even Look Like?

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We’ve seen many attempts to claim Christianity as the official religion of a country, going back much further than Project2025 to the Roman Empire under Constantine. That didn’t work out very well from the standpoint of Christian faith and following Jesus. Then again, Constantine was not attempting to construct a government based on following Jesus’ teachings. He just wanted Christianity to give his governance a stamp of approval. Following Jesus was not his starting point. Power was his starting point. He merely wanted to wield Christianity as one more tool to expand the scope of his power. But what did Jesus say regarding power? While the gospels rarely use the specific term power, it refers to Jesus being empowered and able to do various things. Those things are healing, casting out demons, laying down his own life, granting life, granting protection for his followers, resurrecting the dead, forgiving, assisting the tempted, doing good, and creating. None of that ha...
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Immigration—Legality, Justice, and Morality:

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Comparing immigration in today’s world to the lived reality of Ancient Israel is a difficult exercise. There are so many aspects to the issues that make it almost impossible to equate the one to the other. First of all, there is no equivalency for legal and illegal immigration in Ancient Israel and surrounding lands. Abraham was semi-nomadic. Deuteronomy calls him “a wandering Aramean.” He leaves the land of his birth with his father, then travels on far beyond where his father stopped to take up more permanent residence. There is no legal process for being allowed entry or exit from one region to the next. The closest we might get to legal permissions is in terms of Abraham’s purchase of land from the established residents. Indeed, that cave and attached field he buys as a burial place is the only land over which he ever takes ownership. For the rest, it is simply a case of working out access to water and fields for pasturing his herds. Abraham is hardly the only migrant me...
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Tijuana at the Gate

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New in town Need a job A place to stay Belonging, food, clothing, shelter, safety. “Stay back from the gate! They're out recruiting.” Life's so uncertain, makes no sense. I'm the stranger—we all are. Community is what I need. It's what they offer— with strings attached. I left those strings away back home. I wouldn't join the gangs back there. I had to leave for room to breathe. For room to live, to freely move. They're at the gate. I am the prey. Alone. Displaced. Nowhere to turn. Will I find strings to keep me here? Ties to community Ties to resources Ties to life Ties that make me free to move Ties that tell me I belong. 10/16/2025, Casa del Migrante, Tijuana, BC, Mexico — ©Copyright 2025, Christopher B. Harbin  http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ My latest boo...
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Naich’ee

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Born across the river, Raised on Apach’ee land, Given a birth certificate at age two, The name of one deceased, Global citizen, Tribal Registry, Of Yacqi birth, Deported. Awaiting new documents, A new name, A new birth. Hope in his eyes, Strength in his features, Art in his hands and mind, Plans for a future, Traveling lands native to ancestors, Crossing borders drawn by colonists, Living among peoples still subjected by arbitrary rules. Whose is the land? Whose ancestors matter most? How do we define human? Whom do we still consider savages without a soul? Is a piece of paper of greater value than one who uses paper, wields a brush, brings something new to life? The paper lived once. What of those seeking to live right now? 10/18/2025, Somewhere in Arizona airspace — ©Copyright 2025, Christopher B. Harbin  ...
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Jeans of Hope

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I left behind a pair of jeans. They didn't really fit. I have others still. They won't be missed. Conversing with a dad deported, Wife and son untaken, A family stretched, Their ties pulled to their limit. He broadly smiles to share a picture. He's standing with his son, 7 years old, A border keeping them apart. A wall. A fence. Drones. Cameras. Motion detectors. Heat detectors. Armed guards. Helicopters. Threats. Scenes of dystopia relegating some as worthy, some more worthy, most as enemy—hordes of vermin. He speaks with gushing pride, Pride for his son, Pride in providing— Providing from afar, Providing through the help of others— A family moving near his wife and son, Bearing him a pair of jeans. The son will know his father cares. The son will know he still provides. The son will know ...
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Bollards Speak

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The eagle's talons drop down to seize its prey. The vulture closes in behind on patient wings of silent pursuit, Ready to erase all signs of life once passing here. Bollards form the canvas, Following the border line— A line drawn in sand— Only partially obscuring the ugliness behind. A rusty barbed wire fence twice draped in shiny coils of concertina wire, Another line of bollards, O’erlooked by towers arrayed with electronics, The Berlin wall upgraded and modernized, Technologically outfitted and state of the art, Surveilling all that moves across the sandy expanse, Terrain made uninhabitable, Made unwelcoming, Promising violence, Promising nothing like liberty, Nothing like a land of the free, A land for the free, A home of the brave, Interrupting and destroying this friendship park between two nations. Where once a First Lady ordered cut a barbed w...
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Happy

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He showed up at the gate one day. Somebody fed him. It's what you do. After all, it's a home for migrants, A home for people on the move, A place to give them a place, Belonging, Shelter, Food, Comfort, Medical attention, Clothing, A path forward, Childcare, Training, Employment in the community, Community itself. People on the move need a place where they can help others on their journey. Happy showed back up the next day, And the next, And the next. A volunteer brought him inside, Gave him a bed, Adopted him. The little furball set up his own routine, Climbing down the stairs each morning at 9, Wagging his greeting at every office door, Sharing his joy of belonging, Having a place. Happy had been on the move, Now he keeps to the upper floor, Adopted by successive volunteers, ...
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