"We love you."  It's a hand-written message in big colored letters, fashioned with a crayon, I think.  I can barely make out the shadow of a hand holding it up against the window high above my head.

 

I am standing with a group of people outside the South Bay Detention Center.  We have gathered to protest the arrest and detention of families and leaders in the immigration movement.  We are singing and chanting, led by several passionate young people with bull horns.  "No human being is illegal."  "Set them free."

 

As the sound of our voices begin to penetrate through the brick walls, we begin to see some signs of movement in the barred windows above our heads.  And then some hastily prepared notes that connect us below with those above.  We can't see their faces, but we can read their messages.

 

I was there with several other clergy who wanted to offer support to those being detained, and to the protesters staging a sit-in, willing to be arrested when ordered to leave the premises.  Most of us clergy had determined that this particular action was arising too quickly for us to understand all the ramifications and to have conversations within our congregations that would add weight to the act of being arrested. 

 

Along with others, we at Trinity are learning more about this movement and discerning what role we can play to stand in solidarity with those who are living in fear of deportation.  While the rhetoric is that only "criminals" are being pursued, that is not the reality.  People are being targeted as they come to keep appointments at immigration offices, pursuing the legal steps required to attain green cards and work permits.  The fear is extending into all parts of daily lives:  people are afraid to keep doctor's appointments or to file their tax returns, worried that any evidence of their existence in this country could result in being targeted for deportation.

 

Learning these stories and reading the signs make the issues much more immediate.  These are not theoretical problems.  And for us as people of faith, it raises burning questions, "Where is God in the midst of this suffering?  Where is the Easter message of new life being proclaimed?"

 

This particular issue has a lot of human drama around it.  And so do many other issues and challenges that each of us faces in our personal and communal lives.  How do we work through our understanding of the complexities of these issues, with a clear sense of trust in God's mercy and justice?  In the case of communal issues in particular, how do we as a parish work together to discern a way forward, recognizing that there can be honest disagreement about strategies and appropriate next steps?

 

Together, we will be craning our necks to look upwards, to look beyond the bars in the windows and to see the signs that assure us that we are on the right track.

 

I am grateful to be on this journey with you.

 

Faithfully,

 

Rainey