Words of Welcome

  Exodus 14:19-31 We cross borders all the time. While crossing the border into Canada is relatively easy, as long as we have the proper identification, crossing the Mexican border is much more difficult. It’s even more difficult if you’re crossing over without documentation. People cross borders, whether our southern border or other borders, for many different reasons. Sometimes, they are refugees fleeing violence and persecution in their homeland. Other migrants might be seeking a better life in a place that offers more opportunities. I think one thing that many of us forget is that migration is not a new phenomenon. Most likely, if we are European Americans, our ancestors came to these shores for the same reason many come today.  When it comes to immigration to the United States, it’s clear that our nation’s immigration laws and policies are broken. Fixing the problem will require careful attention that to this point our politicians aren’t ready to face.  Ther...

Isaiah 43:1-7 Just a few days back some of us crossed the mighty Mississippi on our way to and from the General Assembly in Des Moines. As far as I know, nobody tried to wade across the river. It’s too deep and too wide to wade across. We either drove across bridges or took a plane to Iowa, because unlike Moses or Joshua or Elijah, none of us appears to have the power to divide the waters.  Whether it’s a river, a lake, or a sea, water plays an important role in the biblical story. The very first sentences of Genesis declare: “when God began to create heaven and earth—the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and wind from God sweeping over the water—God said ‘Let there be light.” (Gen. 1:1-3 Tanakh ). That was the first day of creation, but on the third day of creation, God separated the waters so that dry land could appear ( Gen. 1:9 ).  Throughout the biblical story, people cross bodies of water, are baptized in water...

Exodus 14:19-31 We cross borders all the time.  Crossing the border into Canada is relatively easy, as long as we have the proper identification.  If you’re trying to cross from Mexico into the United States without documentation, it can be incredibly difficult and dangerous.   The plight of the children fleeing the violence of Central America and the status of young adults who came here with their parents as small children and who have known no other world but America has raised important questions about the nation’s immigration laws. Many are asking whether they are fair and just and appropriate.  Then there’s the border dividing Detroit from its suburbs.  While no one has to present their papers to cross the divide that 8 Mile Road symbolizes, in the minds of many Detroit and the Suburbs are two different worlds.  In fact, crossing the border can be frightening for many – on both sides of the divide.  We cross borders every day of...