\nOur faith says, a wandering
\nAramean was our ancestor \u2013 that is, Abraham and Sarah, displaced
\npeople from Syria, are our shared ancestors.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOur faith says our people were
\nenslaved, oppressed, and hopeless until God acted to free them.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOur people were desert nomads
\nfor generations, looking for a home but not finding one.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOur people, when they found a
\nhome in the so-called \u201cPromised Land\u201d struggled with those who
\nalready lived there, and centuries (ok, millennia) of unrest
\nfollowed.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOur faith says, that a poor,
\nforeign widow came to live in Israel, and became the great
\ngrandmother of the King of Israel.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nWhen our people had lived in the
\nland for centuries, had built a temple, had established a government,
\nand had found peace and stability \u00a0– a foreign empire defeated them
\nin battle, destroyed the temple, killed the king’s descendants, broke
\nopen the defensive walls, and took the leaders away as exiles.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOur leaders in exile were told
\nto \u201cwork for the good of the city they were in\u201d because it was
\ngoing to take a while.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOur faith says that generations
\nlater, God worked to bring the exiles home, and guided the people to
\nrebuilt, and restore, and it was hard and there were disagreements.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOther nations fought for power
\nand control over the land of the Israelites, empires grew and empires
\nfell, tributes were paid and governments were seized. \u00a0The people
\nsought freedom, and sometimes they got it. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nEventually the Romans came to
\npower, and 30 or so years later, Jesus was born.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nMatthew says that Jesus’s family
\nfled to Egypt to protect him from death, and resettled in Nazareth
\nafter they returned. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nNazarenes knew destruction and
\nits power, but Rome didn’t yet know the power of the stories of the
\nJews, who knew their God to be one who overcame oppression time and
\ntime again.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nJesus’ ministry was most often
\nwith people who were poor and had been displaced from their families’
\nlands. \u00a0His was a ministry in motion \u2013 homeless and dependent on
\nthe hospitality of strangers. \u00a0He sent his disciples off with nothing
\nbut the clothes on their back and trust in God.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOur faith says that our \n<\/p>\n \nToday in 2019 there are known to \n<\/p>\n \nIn the USA, the stories we hear \n<\/p>\n \nFor me, step one in wrapping my \n<\/p>\n \nWhile things feels stable, to \n<\/p>\n \nThe book of Exodus, in our \n<\/p>\n \nIt is a powerful reminder that \n<\/p>\n \nOur faith tradition, the one \n<\/p>\n \nThere are those in this 1<\/a>https:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/innovation\/10-infographics-that-show-the-insane-scale-of-the-global-displacement-crisis\/<\/a><\/p>\n 2<\/a>https:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/en-us\/figures-at-a-glance.html<\/a><\/p>\n 3<\/a>https:\/\/immigrationforum.org\/article\/fact-sheet-u-s-refugee-resettlement\/<\/a><\/p>\n 4<\/a>https:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/globaltrends2018\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n October 6, 2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rev. Sara E. Baron
\nancestors have known displacement in all of its forms. \u00a0Our faith is
\nthe faith of slaves, of immigrants, of refugees \u2013 people who have
\nhad nothing but hope in God, who \u00a0has proven faithful time and time
\nagain. \u00a0The fact that God is with and for displaced people is
\nparticularly important as our world has more displaced people than
\never.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\nbe 70.8 million people2<\/sup><\/a>
\nwho have forcibly displaced from their homes, and that number is
\nlikely lower than reality. \u00a0Of those, this year the USA says it will
\nwelcome at most 30,000 (and likely only half that).3<\/sup><\/a>
\n In this country we hear horror stories about people trying to enter
\nour country \u2013 but we often don’t hear about how small the numbers
\nare compared to the global crisis.<\/p>\n
\nare of concentration camps at our Southern Border, children being
\ntorn from their parents, and atrocious conditions for people who are
\nsimply trying to survive after being displaced from their own homes
\nand countries. \u00a0These \u00a0situations are worthy of our strongest
\ncondemnation and protest. \u00a0Tthe situation in our own southern border
\nis AN ATROCITY and, because the USA is welcoming so few of the
\ndisplaced people in the world we must also look beyond our country to
\nsee the extend of the problems.<\/p>\n
\nhead around the experiences of people who are displaced is simply an
\nact of empathy. \u00a0What would it be like? \u00a0While I have spent most of
\nmy life in the United States, there are two exceptions: 2 months in
\nEcuador when I was a teenager and 3 months in England when I was a
\ncollege student. \u00a0My brain simply can’t wrap itself around what it
\nwould be like to have to leave this country and never come back. \u00a0I
\nknow from my time in Ecuador how HARD it is to be in a place where my
\nbrain struggles with the language, and how disconcerting it is to
\nhave intelligent thoughts in my head and no way to communicate them
\nso that other people know they exist. \u00a0I know how much I can yearn
\nfor familiar things \u2013 food I know, using water directing from the
\ntap, the plants and terrain that feels familiar. \u00a0But I don’t know
\nwhat it is like to leave those things behind and NEVER be able to
\ncome home again. \u00a0Nor can I wrap my head around the atrocities being
\ncommitted at our Southern Border to people who have already been
\ndisplaced, who have already had to show resilience, who have left
\ntheir homes and their communities, their people and their dreams in
\norder to (hopefully) live\u2013 only to be dehumanized again by our
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
\nme, here, the world is noticeably destabilized. \u00a0There are twice as
\nmany displaced persons as there were FIVE years ago, and the trend is
\nonly upward. \u00a0Half of displaced people are children. \u00a0Less than 3% of
\nthose who have been forced to leave their countries are able to
\nreturn there.4<\/sup><\/a>
\n It is important to stretch our imaginations, our empathy, and our
\nLISTENING to those who are refugees, because from their stories we
\ncan learn how to be allies to those who are struggling. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nreading today, gives us a great example of the challenges of being
\ndisplaced. \u00a0The people, having been freed from slavery in Egypt, are
\nin the midst of their wanderings in the desert before they settle
\ninto the Promised Land. \u00a0The people are displaced, all that is
\nfamiliar has been stripped from their lives, and even though the
\nfamiliar was awful, it was the familiar and the unfamiliar is
\noverwhelming. \u00a0The people were whining, and grumbling, and
\nthreatening Moses. \u00a0God took mercy on them and their fear, and
\nprovided for them when they needed affirmation that they would
\nsurvive.<\/p>\n
\nit is hard to leave home EVEN when home is AWFUL, and that even when
\nwhere you are going is GOOD, it is still new and different. \u00a0Worse,
\nfor many displaced people, a new home isn’t on the horizon yet.<\/p>\n
\nthat KNOWS the reality of displacement, also knows that we can forget
\nor ignore the pain of those around us. \u00a0In 1 Corinthians, Paul names
\nthat at the early communion table some were eating and drinking too
\nmuch while others had nothing at all, and he says that the table is
\nto be SHARED. \u00a0Those who have plenty share with those who have
\nnothing. \u00a0This is the earliest teaching we have in Christianity about
\ncommunion. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\ncommunity who have plenty, and there are those who don’t have enough.
\n Together, though, we have this table. \u00a0It isn’t something we tend to
\npay a lot of attention to, but a table, in a shared community of
\nfaith, is something many of God’s displaced people no longer have
\naccess to. \u00a0For us, today, this table is extended, and we seek to
\nshare it with God’s people who are displaced around the world,
\nincluding at our own southern border. \u00a0We know God’s table is big
\nenough for all people, and we ask God to extend our hearts until they
\nare grow as large as God’s table. \u00a0May the blessings of God’s table
\nbe with all who need them, and may we who receive of these gifts be
\nmindful of those who can’t access them today. \u00a0Amen\n<\/p>\n
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
\u2028https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"