1.
When talking about refugees, the whole Syrian crisis gets brought up. My disorganized thoughts about ISIS boil down to this:
these are people without Jesus. I have never been able to wrap my head around war, or killing people in general, but regardless of that, I should be on my knees in prayer for them. (Matthew 5:44 “Love your enemy, pray for those who persecute you…”) NEVER is the time to be happy that someone—anyone—dies, or is being killed.
2.
When talking about refugees, immigration in general gets brought up.
I am a migrant. Most missionaries are. For every migrant there is a different story. It saddens me that migrants are often looked down on. I did not choose to be born where I was born—I am grateful for being an American, and feel that with great blessing comes great responsibility to pass that on. (Malachi 3:5 “…I will come to put you on trial…(who) deprive the foreigners among you of justice…”) I wrote a lot more about this here:
http://www.rachelsnewday.blogspot.com.br/2015/09/iamamigrant.html
3.
When talking about refugees, it is natural to jump to trying to find solutions (LET them into the USA! DON’T let them into the USA!). But first, let’s all stop and let our hearts be broken for a truly terrible situation. This is a crisis. And people are dying . People are in fear for their lives- for their children's lives.
So before we go all American and try to fix everything, let’s sit and feel. Sit in solidarity. And then slowly, through prayer, find solutions. Many solutions . There are as many different solutions needed as people fleeing. And this will not happen quickly (Romans 12:15 “…weep with those who weep.”) NEVER is the time to close our hearts off to others. I wrote a lot more about this here:
http://www.rachelsnewday.blogspot.com.br/2015/09/i-want-my-kids-to-know-about-your-kids.html
4.
When talking about refugees, politics get brought up. Politics isn’t my area. Serving others is. And I know that politics are all tangled up in this, but I don’t think that should dictate our hearts, or be a reason for us to leave our Christian mandate to love. Truth without love is WRONG. Love without truth is WRONG. And in any discussion you have with me, I want to focus on what we can do, and what our (you, me, the church) responsibility is. I wrote a lot more about that here:
http://www.rachelsnewday.blogspot.com.br/2015/10/politics.html
5.
When talking about refugees, caution gets brought up. I understand caution. I also see caution moving into fear moving into hate. I understand needing wisdom. But I see wisdom moving into over-limitations moving into barring entry. This:
http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/youre-not-a-bad-christian-just-because-you-want-to-be-cautious-about-syrian-refugees/ brought up some good points and some points I don’t completely agree with, but were good to think about.
6.
When talking about refugees, people get crazy quickly. I was suddenly involved with a very long Facebook conversation recently, where things went places I couldn’t control—and it was on my Facebook wall. I have decided I need to make it harder for me to push the share button by taking the time to write out my perspective more thoroughly on my blog. It also means people are less likely to respond, since it requires more reading.
It isn’t easy for me to disagree with people I love and respect, but it is a good challenge for me to show love and grace.
7.
When talking about refugees, Americans often lump together what is happening in the USA to what is happening in Europe/Middle East. The number of people in question coming to the USA is 10,000. The number in Europe/Middle East is in the millions. Different solutions are needed for a different amount of people. Here is a quote from my friend, Em, who works with refugees in Indiana: “The demographics of refugees flooding European countries and the demographics of refugees entering the US are vastly different. It is true that the sheer millions of refugees flooding the EU borders makes it difficult for those countries to screen, but those that come to the US are being thoroughly screened. I can only speak about the Syrian families we have worked with- an embarrassing total of
25 individuals over the past year because the screening process is so rigorous. We have resettled a few adult males, but mostly families including women and children.”
8.
When talking about refugees, the vetting process is brought up. From my perspective (being a world traveler for the past 10 years), it has NEVER been easy to legally enter the USA from other countries. I have had Brazilian friends YELLED at by the American consulate, told they were just trying to sneak in, and then denied a visa. The USA has a very thorough process for legal entry. Around 85,000 are allowed in on a regular year (from what I have read), so I don’t see 10,000 more breaking the system. I understand that background papers and all are hard to get, and people can slip through, but rationally, ISIS would not spend the time to come into the USA through the refugee system—it would take too long. They would find an illegal way of entry. Here is a thorough post about the vetting system:
https://www.facebook.com/BryanScottHicks/posts/1187326084630475?fref=nf&pnref=story
9.
When talking about refugees, money is brought up. Although I see you still have enough money to go to Starbucks, here is what Em shared about that: “We have a strict time frame of 90 days to help our clients become "sustainable", meaning that they can support their families without our assistance. When a person has experienced severe trauma, doesn't fluently speak the language of the country in which they now live, and are experiencing culture shock while starting life from scratch, the truth is that it is very difficult to work. However, they do. Housing assistance is only guaranteed the first 3 months, refugee Medicaid the first 8 months. I don't specifically work with case management so I am not sure about the deadlines for food stamps, but I know that the services we provide serve only as a buffer for our clients to have food and shelter, refuge, while they actively make steps toward the life ahead. If you actually look at the numbers, each refugee is allotted $925 for the 90 days of support we give. Could you live off that much money for 3 months? We are resettling refugees into poverty.”
10.
When talking about refugees, “helping our own” is brought up (specifically Vets/homeless). As my father is a veteran, I too believe that vets are important. I worked for Good News Ministries for many, many years, and they do an amazing job every day working with vets/homeless. I am glad that so many are now interested in helping them, and hope that they will get connected with hands-on opportunities to serve. But that does not take anything away from the refugee crisis.
11.
When talking about refugees, allowing them to enter the USA is brought up as a bad solution. (
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/427153/refugee-resettlement-immoral) I believe there are MANY solutions, and even more solutions that are needed in this refugee crisis. I believe we should be praying and working to help with as many of these solutions as possible. As an American, most of these solutions will not affect me directly. The one that might, is the idea of refugees coming to the USA. This is only a possible solution for a very few: but I believe it is a valid and needed solution for the few that can. This does not take away from other solutions (or the fact that Saudi Arabia is being a butt about things:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/15/saudi-arabia-has-100000-air-conditioned-tents-sitt/ ).
12.
When talking about refugees, I wish to speak as graceful as Ann Voskamp:
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2015/11/when-you-want-to-live-love-large-in-a-world-with-terrorists-a-movement-of-giftivists/
13.
Another thought from Em, which I wish I had said myself: “In all the discussion about refugees, I'm disheartened that we are not actually talking about refugees. We are talking about terrorists, blatantly ignoring the oppressed and the victims of the terrorists we also fear. There are millions of refugees- mothers, fathers, children, doctors, teachers, students, friends, ordinary people, who have been torn from everything they have known to be familiar. They are not looking for a better life or a chance to take advantage of our economy, they are trying to stay alive! I'm disheartened to see how the U.S. has exchanged nobility for cowardice, precious, innocent lives for the extremely selfish and, might I add, false notion of "security", and has gone so low as to accuse the victims of being the perpetrators from whom they themselves are escaping.”
14.
Another thought from me, mostly regarding migration, since that is all I know about personally:” I see people suffering from deep poverty every day. I know them. I work with them. I love them. And if I were one of them, and had a chance to work my butt off and get my kid to a place where they would not be in the same place, I would fight tooth and nail for it. I think anyone would. And that is not even a refugee- that is the story of most migrants. We did nothing to be born Americans and receive all we have been give - we have no right to shut out others. As far as protecting our own- I am all for that. And yes, sometimes I tremble at the thought of terrorism coming close to my daughter. We are to be wise They are doing much more than you think to vet people. Is the system failsafe? No. But then again, neither is closing boarders or building walls.”
15.
When talking about refugees, some things I hope we can agree on: God loves the refugees. We are to love the refugees. All Muslims are to be loved. Prayer is needed. Wisdom is needed. Action is needed.
16.
When talking about refugees, I hope the end result is doing something loving. Perhaps you are not called to actively work with refugees—but you are called to actively serve others. I hope you reach out to the hurting where you are—the vets, the homeless, the children, the single mothers, the suburban families that are broken but refuse to admit it…the list goes on. And let’s sit and think about this: most of us can’t go to Europe/Middle East to share Jesus…but there are people from there working HARD to be able to come here—there are Muslims here—that need to see God’s love.
I believe it would be darn near impossible to be a radical Muslim if every Christian I knew refused to stop showering me with love.
