Christian Reflection and Prayer

With Congress failing to enact immigration reform,
attention and pressure is now focused on what
President Obama can do to address our broken
immigration system. In June, the president
announced, “I’m beginning a new effort to fix as
much of our immigration system as I can on my
own, without Congress.”

Like everything else in Washington, the president’s
plans have been caught up in politics. With the
surge of migrant children at the U.S. border
fostering misperceptions about border security,
immigration has again become a hot-button issue
in congressional races across the country. Given
pressure from Democrats in tough races and the
desire to depoliticize any administrative action, the
White House announced the president would not
be taking any steps until after the November
elections.

The political calculus is always changing, but the
day-to-day worries and fears of family separation
remain the same. Both Republicans and Democrats
need to stop using immigrant families as political
footballs and remember the lives at stake in this
debate. It is the faith community’s job to offer them
this reminder.

With hope,
The Sojourners Immigration Team

Scripture:

Deuteronomy 15:10New Living Translation (NLT)
10 Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for
the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

Psalm 41
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
1 Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor!
    The Lord rescues them when they are in trouble.

Proverbs 14:21New Living Translation (NLT)
21 It is a sin to belittle one’s neighbor;
    blessed are those who help the poor.

Luke 6:20 New Living Translation (NLT)
20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,
“God blesses you who are poor,
    for the Kingdom of God is yours.

2 Corinthians 9:9New Living Translation (NLT)
9 As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
    Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

Reflection:

In an experiment, people volunteered to dress up as
homeless individuals. Then, they were placed where
an unknowing family member typically passed by.
Cameras were set up to capture what would happen
when family members walked past their closest
relatives dressed in a pauper’s clothing.

In all cases, the unsuspecting relatives walked right
by. Later, experimenters showed these relatives what
the cameras had captured, only this time the faces
of the homeless were shown. The relatives were
stunned when they realized who exactly it was that
they had passed.

While we are naturally drawn to those who are
outwardly similar to us, we have to learn to bond with
the similarities that reside within. Every one of us was
created in the image of God. We are all brothers and
sisters at our core. Don’t be fooled by the outer shell.
Love every person for who they are within. Don’t walk
by the homeless or the nameless. Each one is our
brother, our sister, our friend. We dare not pass them
by!

DON'T WALK BY!

May god bless all of us and open our minds and hearts
so that we can help each other; regardless of who they
are; remember blessing has no color; god bless us all.
when some one cries for help dont look the other way;
we are all god;s people; you may be in a good position
today but you never know what tomorrow brings; always
remember that god is our keeper.

Prayer For The Poor By Mother Theresa

Make us worthy, Lord, to serve those people throughout
the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give
them through our hands, this day, their daily bread, and
by our understanding love, give them peace and Joy. Amen

Scripture:

16 But Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.”
17 “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” they
answered.18 “Bring them here,” he said.
 Matthew 14 New Living Translation (NLT)

Reflection:

The kicking out of suffering immigrant families and
unaccompanied children is not the answer,” Bishop
Minerva Carcaño, the United Methodist Bishop in Los
Angeles, said in a news release. “Immediately stopping
the deportations and extending due process to children
escaping the violence of drug cartels, gangs, and poverty
is the just way to respond."

Could Loaves and Fishes Change The Immigration
Dilemma? What might happen if we were to look at the
two goods of protection and hospitality not as competing
goods in a world of scarcity, but as complimentary goods
in a world of abundance? I think we might come up with
new solutions that no one has yet imagined.

Central American Refugee Crisis at the Border—How You
Can Help  The need is urgent, overwhelming, and large in
scope but ultimately requires that these vulnerable children
be treated with love and compassion. It’s crucial that each
child be offered adequate resources by trained professionals
that will help preserve their dignity and protect them from
further harm.

Deported: A View From the 'Other' Side
With each story, the layers of isolation, dehumanization,
and misunderstanding began to be peeled back. We had all
heard the stories of deportation in the headlines, but none of
us had come face to face with the humans behind the story.

Jesus Is at the Border
The good news is that it’s not too late to change. We can
repent. We can change our hearts and minds so that we can
follow Jesus in breaking down the barriers between “us” and
“them.” We can embrace our differences and become one with
God and our fellow human beings. We can join in God’s
economy of abundant love and set things right by healing the
world and trusting that there is enough room, enough wealth,
enough food, and enough housing for “us” and for “them.”

JESUS IS AT THE BORDER!!!!!!!