Who is my neighbor?
A sermon delivered April 17, 2011 by Rev. Ann Willever
First Universalist Society in Franklin, MA
“Who is my neighbor?” Jesus was asked, in the parable we heard earlier. And the reply is not what someone of Jesus’ time would have expected. The hero of the story was not a holy one, not of the same ethnic background, but rather someone who would have been considered, “OTHER” in that time and place. Even “ENEMY” perhaps. And so as he often did, Jesus used this story to challenge the common understanding of compassion. If we were to do a contemporary re-telling of the story, the hero, the “Good Samaritan” if you will, would be someone from a demonized or marginalized group, a person one would least expect to stop and help. The true neighbor was the person who showed mercy. And the admonition from Jesus to “go and do likewise” was meant not just for the lawyer in the story, but for each one of us.
Go and do likewise. For it is far too easy to walk by, to move to the other side of the road, to avert our eyes from suffering. We are all so busy – we have places to go, jobs to do, errands to run, children and elders to care for. And the newspaper is filled with stories of tragedy; our hearts overflow with compassion for the people of Japan suffering from after-effects of earthquakes & tsunamis – entire villages and towns destroyed, radiation leaking into water & earth, escalating fears for the future; violence and blood-shed from warfare in distant lands seems rampant; here at home political posturing and hate speech threaten the moral fabric of our republic. It is easy to be overwhelmed. Discouraged & defeated. And yet, we must gather our spiritual energy and moral resolve. We must take one more step, say one more prayer, and continue to show up for love and justice. Continue to reach out with mercy to those in distress.
The Jewish celebration of Passover begins tomorrow evening with retelling the ancient story of the emergence from slavery into freedom, the overcoming of oppression. One tradition of the Passover seder is the setting of a place for the prophet Elijah, with a cup of wine. A door is left ajar, so that Elijah, in the form of a stranger, can be welcomed & invited to share the meal. It’s a message of hospitality and radical acceptance. Who is our neighbor?
Over the years my own circle of caring and compassion has grown in ways I could not have anticipated. There was our Partner Church outreach back in 1998 which took me to Adamos, Romania, never on the list of places I planned to visit. However there I found myself in the small village having dinner with the family whose infant daughter had just been baptized. This family opened their door and their hearts to my son & me and set two extra places at the table. We were fully embraced by these people who never again will feel like strangers to me.
When our son Dan went to Japan to teach English for two years, my idea of neighborhood expanded yet again. When your child (even though an adult) lives in another country, your affinity for that country changes. I see some other heads nodding. During our visit there, Jake & I were welcomed warmly at the junior high school in the small village where he taught, served tea in the principal’s office, offered gifts of flowers-we were honored guests. I felt connected to these people and this culture in a new way. And so my reaction following the recent earthquake & tsunami was visceral. Although it happened in a part of the country far from where Dan had lived, I felt like I knew these people too.
Teaching English as a Second language to a young mother from Iran right here in Franklin gave me a deeper understanding of Iranian culture and geography. Now, with our son Jeff living & teaching in Indonesia a whole new part of the world is now my neighborhood. And I know that many of you have been stretched and broadened by sons and daughters in far-away places. All opportunities for strangers to become acquaintances and even friends. The world is smaller in many ways than when I was growing up.
This morning I want to focus on the migrant experience here in the US, on the way that our immigration policies have changed in the past two decades in ways that have led to injustice, human rights abuses and many deaths. I want to lift up the spiritual aspects of this crisis and how undocumented migrants have been made into the “other”. How this has led to a wilderness area in southern Arizona of which we should all be ashamed.
We are a nation of immigrants. We know this. You may remember back in November when several people from the congregation told stories of how our parents or grandparents had come to America-from Germany, Jamaica, Sweden, Hungary, Turkey. We shared the reasons why our ancestors fled their countries of origin to make a new life far from home, to escape political oppression, for food, for work, for religious freedom. Most came during the time when the US had open borders.
Even as recently as the Reagan era (81-89) the US had a pro-immigrant, BIG DOOR policy. It was the Illegal Immigration Reform & Immigrant Responsibility Act passed in 1996 that really changed the situation dramatically in this country. This law closed off some avenues to citizenship, made political asylum more difficult to document, and reclassified some minor violations as felonies (& made this retroactive).
I don’t know how many of you know about or may have read “The Death of Josseline”, (hold up book) a book recently published by Beacon Press. It’s about the human suffering that is taking place daily along the Arizona/Mexico border. It’s one I would highly recommend. In fact the Unitarian Universalist Association encourages all of us UUs to read this book in preparation for General Assembly in June 2012, which will be held in Phoenix and which will focus on Justice issues, rather than simply business as usual.
The stories in this book made the situation in Arizona personal for me. Put names and faces to dry statistics that can be easily forgotten. Hearing the stories of real people, many of them children, suffering horrific deaths, made it impossible for me to just pass on by, to ignore the reality of what’s happening there. I’ve had the opportunity to attend several conferences and workshops during the past several months as I try to learn as much as I can about current immigration issues and develop my own compassionate response.
The reasons for immigration today are no different than they were a generation or two ago. Quite simply most migrants come to feed their families, to find work or to escape political unrest in their countries. Many are escaping desperate situations of extreme poverty, hunger and despair. According to the new census, there are currently 38 million foreign born individuals living in the US. To give some perspective to that, there are 36 million Canadians living in Canada. So, there are more foreign born in the US than total Canadian citizens. Of that number about 11 million are undocumented, meaning they have no official standing here. Yet they are our neighbors, and they are at risk.
Migrant workers are the ones in the fields, earning sub-poverty wages, picking our tomatoes and other crops. They are the ones who contribute to the US having the lowest food costs in the developed world. In Florida, for example, a worker must harvest 2.25 TONS of tomatoes a day – (fill and haul a 32 pound bucket every 4 minutes over and over again without stopping) to earn minimum wage for a 10-hour workday. Undocumented workers, because they have no legal recourse, are subject to human rights violations and unfair labor practices.
Seven hundred miles of wall have now been built along the AZ border. This wall began under Clinton & Reno and it has not made any difference in the numbers of migrants trying to get to the US. What has happened is US Border policy changed so that “migrants are redirected away from urban crossings into AZ’s perilous and deadly landscape” (from 2006 report by Binational Migration Institute @ U of AZ). In the decade between 2000 and 2010 more than 1700 bodies have been recovered from the Arizona borderland. These are human beings who have perished from dehydration and exposure. Some are children, like fourteen year old Josseline who was left to die alone in the desert.
A speaker at a recent conference posed the question, “What kind of neighbors do we want to be?” with respect to the immigration movement. And I pose this question to you. I long to see in us, the beauty of the people in the subway, from the poem earlier. “Holding the door for whoever was slower or left behind. Giving up a seat, making room.” This, I believe, is who we are called to be in the world. People of radical hospitality and welcome.
There are many different ways to make a difference. I’d like to offer a few possibilities.
First something very simple. This morning I’ve brought postcards which simply need to be signed and mailed to the head of the “Ahold” company, which is the parent company of Stop & Shop and a number of other grocery stores. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers centered in Immokalee, FL has been working to improve wages and enforce a code of conduct for fair conditions in their tomato supply chains. Nine major retailers including SUBWAY, McDonald’s and Whole Foods have reached Fair food agreements with the Coalition. Here’s what they’re asking. They’re asking retailers to pay one penny more per pound of tomatoes. Whether you are a Stop & Shop customer or not, please take a card, sign & mail it. They’ve already been stamped to make it easier!
If we run out today, I will send for more. These efforts do make a difference.
Another suggestion is to connect with an organization doing good work. You’ll see on the insert in your order of service a list of various organizations both locally and nationally that can help you to become more informed, and learn how to take action. Please take the insert in your order of service home with you and put it near your computer. There are various bills and acts coming up for consideration both state-wide and nationally that you may want to consider supporting.
We can be proud of ourselves as UUs because so many, including our President, Peter Morales, went to AZ last July to participate in the civil action in response to SB 1070. Standing in solidarity with local activists, some UUs were jailed. Our Standing on the Side of Love campaign has garnered support from many beyond our own association; people of faith standing together in solidarity against unjust laws. As copycat laws are passed, most recently in Georgia, Standing on the Side of Love has been on the front lines in opposition.
If you feel called to do more, I’d suggest visiting Arizona, perhaps Nogales to see the wall. From the stories I’ve heard seeing that wall up close and in person can have a profound effect. You might consider going to Phoenix to take part in the Justice General Assembly in June 2012. A friend of mine in AZ has recently been through the training to help with “NO MORE DEATHS” an organization of volunteers working at the border. They provide first aid, leave water in strategic places in the desert, and offer assistance to migrants in need.
Who among us has not at some point in our lives found ourselves in a strange land? In a place where we were unsure of the customs or didn’t understand the language. Somewhere we have been afraid. And in the best of circumstances someone has reached out to us…like the person in the poem…someone has held the door, or taken us by the hand and helped us to feel welcome.
The Samaritan’s gesture was not only compassionate, it was dangerous. For the place where he encountered the poor beaten man was on the Jericho road, known for bandits and thievery. By stopping he put himself in harm’s way. And he not only bandaged up the man, he carried him to safety, ensured that he would be well-cared for. How easy it would have been for him to walk on by. May we, may each of us, continue to show up for love and justice, even when it’s uncomfortable, even when it pushes us beyond our usual borders, even when it’s dangerous. And let’s make sure there’s always another place at the table.
So be it and Amen.