Pentecost Ponderings

I'm preparing to preach a Pentecost sermon tomorrow. I'll be preaching to an immigrant congregation in a language other than English so they can better understand God's Word. I find that most fitting. The very setting will be an object lesson of what Pentecost was all about. There will be a problem, however, in the First Century the Pax Romana made immigrant travel much easier than here in the US today.

While I fully expect several families to be present, they have been telling me for over a year that too many of the congregation are afraid to come to church. They are afraid of being targets for agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They are afraid to leave their homes and thus only drive where they absolutely must.

It makes little difference to them whether they have proper papers or not. It makes no difference to ICE agents or other law enforcement personnel, for when it comes to immigration issues, there is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty. I know both immigrants and citizens who have been stopped and questioned for hours regarding immigration despite their legal status.

A few years ago, I accompanied a deacon of my congregation to a court hearing. He had inadvertently back into the gate of a parked pick-up truck. No one was around, so he left his information on the truck's windshield and went about his business, waiting for a phone call. The call came from and ICE agent. It was his truck. The agent threatened him with the police if he did not come back immediately. On arrival, he detained him for several hours while he checked his immigration status. When he could find no reason to further detain him, he called the local police to charge him with a hit-and-run.

At court, the judge asked us why he had not provided his insurance information. Upon learning that the insurance information had been left at the scene of the accident and payment had already been processed, all charges were dismissed. That was only after the ICE agent had wasted several hours of a legal's immigrant's time, the time and resources of the court, and my own time to interpret for my deacon. All of this, simply to allow the agent room to flex his authority and power at the expense of an immigrant here legally and contributing to the society and economy.

Another deacon found himself in the crosshairs of the law for no reason apart from his identity as a native of Puerto Rico, born there as a US citizen. He had the audacity to be driving a Cadillac. Over a period of eight years in the Charlotte, NC area, he was stopped at least 20 times for driving his own car while looking Latino. His second crime is that he speaks English with a discernible accent. In the eyes of the local law enforcement that has often been seen as justification for assuming he could not be a medical doctor at a local hospital.

Another member of my congregation had issues with an employer. He wanted her to sleep with him. If she refused, he threatened to turn her over to Immigration authorities. What he failed to grasp is that making a victim out of an immigrant is one of the surest ways for someone without papers to gain legal presence through a U-visa. By co-operating with law enforcement, she was able to get permanent legal residence. Unfortunately, she had to go through the experience of sexual harassment, filing the complaint, substantiating her claims, and run the risk of deportation while filing said complaints. Four years ago, there was more protection from her in the filing process. Today, those protections are gone.

I had a phone call a month ago about a young man picked up for deportation because he did not go to his scheduled DACA hearing. His wife and newborn twins are not left behind without the benefit of their father and his legally earned wages. Their landlord is left without tenants, as the wife had to move out for lack of his income to pay the rent.

In so many ways, it was much easier in the Roman Empire of the First Century for people to move around from one country to the next. There were no border police to check immigrants other than guards at city gates. Travel required money, but it was viable for those Jews living outside of Palestine who wanted to return to Jerusalem for Passover and Pentecost. It was no problem for others like Paul who traveled to take the message of the gospel to people living in other lands.

Strangely, it is in large part those who call themselves Christians who provide the greatest support to closing off our borders and making life difficult for immigrants in our midst. In so doing, we actually deny immigrants here the freedom to worship God without fear. I will preach a sermon on Pentecost about immigrants who came to Jerusalem and encountered God's Breath being poured out upon all flesh. Many won't come because of our attitudes and policies on immigration.


—©Copyright 2017, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

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