In the Bible, Jesus tells us to: “Love your neighbor as yourself”. In a challenging response, a man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” In his classic way, Jesus answered a question by telling a story. In response to the question of who is my neighbor, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan in which we learn that our neighbor is anyone who is in need, regardless of race or ethnicity. But this wasn’t a new revelation that started with Jesus; from the beginning, God's heart has always been for all people, and he vividly displayed it when he told Israel: “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”(Lev. 19:33-34) God wanted Israel to remember their past and how he saved them, so that it would shape how they lived in the present. God’s heart of love has always been for all sinners from all nations, races, and ethnicities and he wanted Israel to be his avenue of grace to the world. All of us, regardless of our race or national origin, are by nature lost and separated from God just as Israel was in Egypt; but instead of leaving us in our helpless, vulnerable condition as outcasts, in the same way that God redeemed Israel, He had compassion on those of us who believed in his Son and made us “… a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles…” (1 Peter 2:9-11). Peter calls those of us who are Christians sojourners or immigrants in this world, and we are immigrants because although we live in this world, God by his grace has given us amnesty into his kingdom and our citizenship is in heaven: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…”(Eph. 2:19) Just like Israel, we, of all people, as Christians should should remember our past so it will shape how we live in the present.
In light of this, I am excited to be studying and working my way towards being an accredited immigration representative, which is an avenue by which I can demonstrate love to my "neighbors" by showing compassion to the vulnerable and assisting the ‘aliens’ in becoming not only citizens of our physical country, but more importantly, citizens of the household of God. In the coming months and years, I hope to inform and challenge others to see the white harvest of the nations right outside our front doors.
The garden project has been a success. I am always amazed at the fruitfulness God causes from one small plot of ground. It has been exciting to see the families tend their gardens and reap the benefits of their labor. Many are excited to try again next year and are already talking about what they would do differently. It has been such a blessing to get to know these immigrant families and help them to feel more welcome in our city.
