My reflection from a prayer vigil in support of immigrants/ DACA

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity/ privilege of speaking at a prayer vigil in favor of immigrants in Walnut organized by my friend Betty Hung of Asian Americans Advancing Justice - LA (AAAJ-LA) and Clergy/ Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-LA). There's no way I should have been up there with real ministers and activists, but I think it helped that Nicole is one of Betty's co-workers and Betty knows I'm a former minister/ current stay at home parent that misses talking in front of others, hahaha. Here's a link to a news article on the prayer vigil SGV Tribune article.

In the photo above, you'll notice Megs trying her best not to look at the camera. Nicole and I both believe in the importance of bringing our kids to events like these (whether we are speaking or not), because they touch on subjects that may be out of our everyday experience but are important. We're hoping attending vigils like this one, protests and rallies, as well as our missions trips to Oaxaca will foster in both Kimi and Megumi an empathy for others... maybe even create a spark in their hearts that can lead them to some sort of advocacy work later on! Check back with us in fifteen years and we'll tell you how Kimi and Megs have turned out, and if our decisions today made a difference!

I wanted to post what I said at the prayer vigil, just in case you were curious.  Feel free to comment if you'd like! Here it is:

Several weeks ago I had a meeting at church and had the uncomfortable experience of driving directly in front of a police car for several miles on San Gabriel Blvd. This police officer wasn’t one of those that speeds by you in a hurry… they were one of those that seemed like they were looking for someone to give a ticket to… driving at exactly the speed limit, which meant for two thirds of my commute to church I was driving the speed limit as well.

But in all seriousness, my drive that evening was a sobering experience, as a week or two prior I had the privilege of hearing one of our church’s undocumented congregants share about the fear she suffered every time she left her house… every time she got in her car to drive somewhere. Every time she was in public, whether it be a restaurant or the supermarket or the mall... There would be days she just didn’t leave her house, just because she didn’t want that day to be the day she got picked up and her life shattered.  And for me, that drive to church broke my heart thinking about the paralyzing fear that would have accompanied such a mundane event were I to have been undocumented myself.

A couple days ago I heard a quote that I thought is quite appropriate; its from WEB Dubois. “Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor- all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked – who is good?... nay, but that men know so little of other men.”  I firmly believe that those of us that are fortunate enough to call ourselves citizens or legal residents struggle with what our country should do with the undocumented people in our midst, not because they pose a threat or are a problem, but because we know so little about them. And about how hard it is to live in a country where you want to belong, but are not sure that you are or ever will be accepted.

That reminds me of a story in the Christian Bible when a man of the law decided to test Jesus by asking him what command he needed to follow to gain Eternal life, essentially, what the most important command was to follow. Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.”  I’m sure many of you are familiar with what is commonly referred to as the golden rule… your love for God is shown by loving your neighbor with every fiber of your being.

But the man of the law pressed Jesus further and asked him, “and who is my neighbor?” And its that question that’s become the seminal question for people of all faiths, but especially us in the Christian faith. I join with the others who have spoken here this morning in my belief that the undocumented congregants in our churches, the undocumented residents in our communities, are in fact included in the neighbors Jesus speaks of… and our love for God needs to be exhibited by loving our undocumented neighbors with every fiber of our being. That means supporting the California Values Act, SB 54, it means striving to make our worship centers sanctuary congregations, it means actively looking for ways to help make our state safer, so that our undocumented neighbors can leave their residences without fear of being arrested and detained.

I pray that we can all view this, not as a partisan political issue, but as an issue of human dignity. May we remember that all people have been born in God’s image, and may we learn more to love others in the same way that God loves each and every one of us.