Across the dining room table from where I sit with my computer is a vase filled with flowers starting to wilt. A heart shaped balloon floats in the living room, a little less inflated than it was when I received it last Friday, Valentine’s Day.
Each year we are bombarded with aisles full of decorations and candy, advertisements on how to express our love for our significant others, and pressure to be in a romantic relationship if we are not.
Yet showing love for one another is not just reserved for one day, or a set of holidays throughout the year.
Love is a choice we make every single day—be it love for spouses, children, siblings, or friends.
Relationships take work.
Christians are not called to only be in relationship with family and friends, but also with neighbors and strangers.
Romans 12 says “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor” (v. 10-11) and “Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers” (v. 13).
In the coming months, this newsletter will include more opportunities to love and offer hospitality to both our immigrant neighbors at the border and those in your local communities. It will include more educational resources around immigration issues and advocacy opportunities.
I invite you to live into loving your immigrant neighbors more and more each day. You can do this by learning more about immigration issues and by building your own relationships with immigrants and non-profits that serve them.
-Rev. Nicole Crouch, Director of Border Ministries
