That's YOUR Thing
In my job, I spend a lot of time helping people get involved with serving in our community. They get connected with homeless outreach, refugee resettlement, crisis pregnancy support, and foster care and adoption, among many other things.
One time, someone approached me with a couple questions about what it’s like to connect with and serve refugee families new to our area.
I talk too much. I know this. Everyone else knows this. And when someone asks me a question, I never know if they are looking for the short answer or the long answer. Instead of asking, I always guess that they want the long answer. My guess is generally wrong.
So I started talking. I briefly described the long process and the high level of vetting that goes into approving a refugee for relocation to the US. I explained how shocking it can be for someone arriving in a new country, with new expectations and a new language. I talked through the resources and assistance available, which can temporarily provide for the most basic needs for a family, but are limited in scope and don't have that relational component that is so critical for that family to connect and join the community.
Ten long minutes later, I finished my impassioned speech with a call to action to serve refugees!
His response?
“Wow. Refugees are really your thing, aren’t they?”
Actually, no. They really aren’t my thing. I’m passionate about foster care, both restoring families involved in the system and bringing permanency to children who can’t return. I’m passionate about community development and best practices for engaging with communities facing material poverty, both locally and globally. I’m growing more and more passionate about anti-racism work, as I become more aware of my own privilege and the systemic patterns holding back my brothers and sisters.
But I care about refugees because God cares about them.
Jesus said that the clearest indicator of a person’s love for Him was how they treated those on the fringes. He specifically mentioned the hungry, the thirsty, those in prison, the sick, and strangers (foreigners living in their land).
James, the brother of Jesus, described caring for orphans and widows as part of the purest of religion.
None of these sound optional. These aren’t the kinds of things you get around to after you take care of cutting the grass, getting the kids to and from sports practices, going on vacation to the beach/mountains/lake/campground, and attending all the special activities at church.
They come first and are core to who we are as followers of Jesus.
We don’t have to know everything about every justice issue in our world. We can’t devote time to each and every injustice we face (in fact, I would discourage that and ask each person to find those one or two issues they can dive into most deeply).
But I do think that followers of Jesus must care about the injustices that break God’s heart. On display throughout scripture is God’s care for refugees/foreigners, the poor, the hungry, orphans, widows, prisoners, the marginalized, sinners, and the oppressed.
When did caring for the “least of these” become a pet thing, reserved for only a handful of those who are most passionate?
We can’t all tackle it all. But we must all care. And we must do something.
