Celebrate Immigrants!
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Welcome to Dearborn First UMC. May the Fourth be with you!
I am Pastor Suzy Todd. Two weeks ago we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday – and we’ve been celebrating ever since. Easter is not merely a day or a moment. On the church calendar, the Easter season runs until Pentecost on June 8. But Easter is even bigger than that! Easter is a way of life. It’s living with joy. It’s living with hope. It’s living knowing that God is creating and re-creating – always and everywhere.
We are EASTER people! Happy Easter.
Celebrating Immigrants since Biblical Times
Last week, and for the next couple weeks, we are celebrating some of the wondrous people in this beautiful world. Last week we celebrated the revelation of God in the joy and hope and wonder of children and youth. This week we’re celebrating the revelation of God in the beauty and diversity of immigrants.
Immigration is a huge topic in the Bible, especially in the Hebrew Bible – the part that takes place before Jesus’ birth. Our religion, like Judaism and Islam, was born from this small slice of land in the Middle East.
Depending on the time, the place and the speaker – this place is known as Israel or Judah or Palestine. This tiny nation is situated as a gateway between Asia and Africa.
When so much trade was done via land, this was a hot piece of property. There was a constant migration of people, with all manner of things to be traded, in pursuit of wealth. And there were always people, from all over the world, running out of luck (or money) and settling in this place.
Nations from both sides of the gateway were often looking to control access. So, it has always been a war-riddled land inhabited by current and former conquering peoples.
Immigrant Justice is Biblical
Immigrants were a huge issue. Therefore, the Bible has a lot to say about how people of faith treat immigrants. For example:
In Deuteronomy 27:19, Moses instructs the Levites to proclaim – among other curses –
19 “Cursed is anyone who obstructs the legal rights of immigrants, orphans, or widows.” All the people will reply: “We agree!”
Is anyone else struck by the lack of ambiguity there?
In case you’re interested in who else is cursed – per Moses in this diatribe, the first 3 are basically from the ten commandments:
Idol worshippers
Anyone who belittles their parents
Anyone who tampers with their neighbor’s property line
And then Moses includes:
Anyone who misleads a blind person
Any man who engages in relations with a close female relative… or an animal.
Anyone who kills a neighbor in secret – or accepts money to kill an innocent person.
The sin of poorly treating immigrants (orphans and widows) was serious. According to Moses – their legal rights were God-endorsed. The penalty for violation was cursedness. And what were those legal rights?
In scripture we find a summation in Leviticus 19:33-34:
33 When immigrants live in your land with you, you must not cheat them. 34 Any immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens. You must love them as yourself, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt;
I am the Lord your God.
God’s Love Extends to All
I think it’s safe to say that God is not a fan of folks who assert special privileges for people based on where they were born.
I think it’s safe to say that God would not approve of a society where there are different sets of rights and responsibilities for people based on the location of their birth.
I think it’s safe to say that God’s definition of neighbor is not defined by geopolitical boundaries.
Celebrating Immigrants
But if God’s will and desire aren’t motivation enough, let’s look at how our lives have been enriched by folks who immigrated to our country.
Levi Strauss – the most American of jeans are the product of a man born in Germany
Natalie Portman – Shoutout to the Star Wars fans on Star Wars Day – born in Israel
Joni Mitchell – popular folk musician was born in Canada
Madeleine Albright – first female Secretary of State was born in Germany
We celebrate the richness that these immigrants have brought to our lives because they chose to become a part of this society.
As I look out across this sanctuary, I note that most all of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants.
I am a quintessential American - a Heinz 57 mutt. According to my DNA, I’m 98% European and 2% African. Zero percent from the Americas… My earliest ancestor to immigrate to this land came from England in 1698. And my most recent immigrant ancestor was my great-great grandfather, David Girard, who came from Canada in 1875. And that family emigrated from France to Canada in 1681.
My family has more than 300 years on this soil. I know its ins and outs, its strengths and weaknesses. I know the written and unwritten rules of this society. It’s in my bones – I don’t have to be on constant alert about what is “normal” and what is not.
I can’t fathom the courage it takes to move to a foreign land – where you know no one. Where you can’t find the food you’ve always cooked in the grocery store. Where you can’t find the clothes you’ve always worn at the mall. Where you can’t speak the language or worship with your neighbors, or even drive.
Maybe that’s why we see so many successful immigrants. The same spirit that is bold enough to leave everything behind and start afresh, also emboldens them to take risks and make sacrifices once they get here.
Enrico Fermi – was an Italian immigrant to the US, a Nobel prize winning physicist; he built the first artificial nuclear reactor – the father of the atomic age.
John James Audubon – born in Haiti to French parents, immigrated to the US. He was an artist, a naturalist and an ornithologist who contributed substantially to our understanding of North American birds.
Kati Kariko – born in Hungary and immigrated to the US. She is a Nobel prize winning bio-chemist who laid the groundwork for the mRNA vaccines that curbed the Covid pandemic.
We celebrate these great immigrants who have enriched our lives and our land.
The Image of God Reflected in All People
The people who immigrated to the US some 300 years ago with my ancestors, didn’t come to be assimilated into the culture here. They were arrogant. They came assuming that their way of living was superior to the way of life that had been lived here for millennia. They came to impose their culture on the native people here.
They chose genocide over relationship.
And the world lost a lot of its beauty.
We killed off the image of God that was held in those cultures.
The Native American people knew God, not through the Bible, but through the world around them and the stories of their ancestors.
I am no expert, so I can’t tell you all the things that were lost by choosing genocide over acceptance, but if you are interested in a contemporary Native American experience, I highly recommend this book: Rez Life by David Treuer. He grew up on an Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota and shares his experience in this book. It gives the reader great insight into the repercussions of colonization still impacting Native people.
Let us never again assert our own culture with a force that annihilates another.
Let us never again be so arrogant as to believe that God is not at work among all people.
Let us never again be so conceited as to believe that we have nothing to learn from our neighbors across cultural and geopolitical lines.
Let us never again fear the diversity of people and cultures that harbor the image of God.
Let us celebrate the beautiful mosaic of cultures and races and languages and arts and foods that reveal the depth and breadth of God’s creative power.
Immigration by the Numbers
According to data provided by the American Immigration Council:
There are over 678,000 immigrants in Michigan, making up approximately 7% of Michigan's total population.
There are over 37,400 immigrant entrepreneurs in Michigan.
The careers with the greatest concentration of immigrants are: software engineers, physicians and post-secondary educators.
In our congressional district (12):
11% of the population is immigrants – about half have become naturalized and qualify to vote.
There are 1,869 immigrant entrepreneurs
Immigrants pay $807 million in taxes
They have $2.2 billion dollars in spending power
We celebrate the contributions that immigrants have made to our country, our state and our town.
Dearborn has become a city defined by immigration.
By the early 1920s, a majority of Model T assembly line workers were Arab descent.
Destabilization of countries of origin led to waves of immigration from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Yemen in the 20th century.
We’re the first Arab majority city in the US.
It comes with its challenges.
We don’t always speak the same language as our neighbors.
There are fireworks on holidays we’re unfamiliar with
City offices are closed on days we don’t always expect.
And sometimes I feel uncomfortable doing yardwork in my tank top and shorts
But it also comes with its perks:
Shatila bakery
New architectural beauty in the neighborhoods
Shawarma and Hummus
And Yemeni coffee shops with beautiful music blaring into the warm summer nights
I think the disciple Peter was on point in Acts 10:34-36
34 Peter said, “I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another. 35 Rather, in every nation, whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 This is the message of peace he sent to the Israelites by proclaiming the good news through Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all!
“God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another”
On Monday January 6, 1941, then president, Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech. At the time, Western Europe was suffering the scourge of Nazi domination. Roosevelt presented the ideal that individual liberties that Americans enjoyed, could be extended to the world.
Those freedoms were:
Freedom of speech
Freedom of worship
Freedom from want
Freedom from fear
He knew that making sure other people were treated with the same respect and rights that Americans had would require great sacrifice on the part of the American people, in this case it meant going to war.
Whether they knew what the Bible said about it or not, Americans knew in their bones: God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another. Cursed be the one who obstructs another’s rights.
They knew that the human rights and human dignity they possessed should be available to everyone – even those across the ocean. And those 1940s Americans were willing to put their lives on the line.
The modern American may no longer have the altruism needed to stand up in the face of fascism around the world. We may no longer be willing to sacrifice our comfort for the benefit of people we don’t know or feel connected to. We may no longer believe that their wellness is intimately tied to our own. But God hasn’t changed. The Christian mandate hasn’t changed.
How do faithful Christians live in a world that shouts:
Mind your own business!
Take care of your own!
America first!
The Diversity and Beauty of God’s Image
I remember in 2018, coming to the Henry Ford Museum to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit that included this image – The Golden Rule - from 1961. I had always thought of Rockwell as being overly sappy and idealizing American culture. Boy, did that exhibit open my eyes. This one particularly moved me.
I’m not sure if it was gigantic in size – or merely in impact.
But here it is.
Hints of people hanging off the edges, showing that the vastness of this humanity God has created cannot be contained.
The image of God is diverse and beautiful and contained in the full depth and breadth of humanity.
Yet, we live in a world where some people believe God only speaks in the 17th century English of the King James Bible
We live in a world where people are persecuted
based on the melanin levels in their skin,
based on their gender identity,
based on their physical capabilities.
We live in a world where people are punished for fleeing homelands where wars rage over
natural resources,
cultural identity,
religion and
drugs.
“The Golden Rule” by Norman Rockwell, 1961.
But, because:
We believe that every person harbors the image of God.
We believe that our Creator is still exercising creative power in this time and place.
We believe that our immigrant neighbor offers us a revelation of a part of God’s image we wouldn’t otherwise see in our place and time.
We believe that God shows no partiality and we shouldn’t either.
We act like the rebels that Christians have always been:
We celebrate that God loves people who speak in all languages
We celebrate that God chooses a vast rainbow of colors to create the human genome.
We celebrate places that offer refuge.
We celebrate the immigrants – the sojourners – the travelers among us.
Amen.
Pastoral Prayer:Please pray with me:
Heavenly Parent, you birthed all people, all races, all cultures. Help us to recognize your presence in the refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers who flee from their places of birth, seeking safety and welcome in our nation and our community. Open our hearts to embrace the diverse beauty that they bring to our lives.
Jesus, we pray for an end to the wars, poverty and human rights abuses that drive desperate people to become refugees in the first place. May our systems of justice and equity embody your impartiality and offer to the immigrants the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from fear and freedom from want that has so generously been offered to our citizens.
Holy Spirit, give us more of your compassion for the plight of the immigrant. Soften our hearts to their situation and help us follow your lead in seeking justice and mercy on their behalf.
We pray for all people who live in war zones – may they be welcomed in places of peace.
We pray for all people who live in famine – may they be welcomed in places of plenty.
We pray for all people who are persecuted – may they be welcomed in places of safety.
We pray for the people among us who seek your healing touch.
We pray for the people among us who need your strength:
God, we pray for a world transformed by your love, reborn in your image. We pray for your kin-dom to come. We ask this in the words Jesus taught us saying: Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kin-dom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kin-dom, the power and the glory forever, amen.
Benediction:
May the God who created a world of diversity and vibrancy,
Go with us
May the Son who teaches us to care for strangers and foreigners,
Go with us
May the Spirit who breaks down our barriers and celebrates community,
Go with us
Amen
