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Dear Covenant Friends,
Have you ever had a bad night’s sleep, even when you are in your own bed? The next morning you wake up tired, a little cranky, frustrated at thoughts and problems that awaken us when we need rest. Sleep is God’s gift, renewing mind and body. Hopefully for some of our church families, a good night’s sleep is now a little more in reach.
Last Friday, members of The Church of the Covenant (both English speaking and Swahili speaking), worked together to deliver 20 mattresses and bedding to Congolese families who have immigrated to the United States and made their home in Cleveland. Many of them have not had beds to sleep on in this cold Cleveland winter. Thanks to the generous donation of an individual in our church family, matched by a few others, we were able to provide beds and bedding. We are in further conversation with the families about additional needs, and our “Swahili Fund” is available through our website for anyone who wants to donate. These gifts are especially important now, when federal funding to agencies who help immigrants is being withheld.
Many of you have spoken to me with concern about our Congolese friends. Be assured that they feel safe here, secure in both God’s provision for them, and their status as either citizens or legal immigrants. Hearing their songs descend from Yost Chapel on Sundays and out the windows of the second floor is uplifting to us all.
But I still worry. Church staff and leadership are discerning how best to be prepared in the case of unexpected visits by immigration officials. Churches all over the country have been agonizing over responding to God’s call to care for immigrants and strangers. Yesterday morning, more than two dozen faith groups filed a lawsuit against the administration for violation of their religious freedom regarding their practices of serving immigrants and immigrant communities. It’s hard to get denominations to agree on anything, so I am amazed this came through. While we all know the immigration system needs reforming, we must advocate for the humane treatment of all human beings, and the sanctity of our worship spaces. You can find the complete filing HERE, but this is how it begins-
Plaintiffs and their members are Baptist, Brethren, Conservative Jewish, Episcopalian, Evangelical, Mennonite, Quaker, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Reconstructionist Jewish, Reform Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, United Methodist, Zion Methodist, and more. They bring this suit unified on a fundamental belief: Every human being, regardless of birthplace, is a child of God worthy of dignity, care, and love. Welcoming the stranger, or immigrant, is thus a central precept of their faith practices.
The Torah lays out this tenet 36 times, more than any other teaching: “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34). In the Gospels, Jesus Christ not only echoes this command, but self-identifies with the stranger: “For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, I was a stranger, and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35). Plaintiffs’ religious scripture, teaching, and traditions offer clear, repeated, and irrefutable unanimity on their obligation to embrace, serve, and defend the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in their midst…
I invite you to pray for our Congolese friends and to stay tuned to emerging needs within our church family. I’m so grateful to be at a place where generosity flourishes and the Holy Spirit is at work among us.
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