Finding Jesus at the Border by Julia Lambert Fogg

Author:Julia Lambert Fogg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christianity/Immigration;Emigration and immigration—Religious aspects—Christianity;Emigration and immigration—Religious aspects—Christianity—Biblical teaching;Church work with immigrants—United States;Church work with immigrants—Mexico;REL012110;REL006220;REL028000
ISBN: 9781493420155
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2020-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

Our Citizenship Is in Heaven

Today Paul reminds us, just as he reminded the Philippians, that although some of us are privileged to have citizenship in the countries where we live, what is most valuable is our shared citizenship in heaven (Phil. 3:20). This heavenly citizenship is ours in Christ (3:20); it does not come from a US passport. Citizenship in Christ is not lost when DACA runs out, nor is it threatened when national policies change. What changes with immigration law, policy, and the implementation of these as borders between neighbors is our “human form”—it is how we administrate national borders. With respect to Christ, we all have the same citizenship; to embody this citizenship in the body of Christ is our heavenly calling.

We live out our heavenly calling by standing with those who are made vulnerable by their loss of status: prisoners, detainees, those who prioritize the good of others, and those who risk harm to themselves, and even death, to serve their community. We exercise our heavenly citizenship by imitating Paul, who imitated Christ, accepting a vulnerable social status. It is when we experience that social vulnerability and cross those status boundaries, leaving our comfort zones and stepping out of our privileged social locations, that we begin to know Christ and his power as Paul did—not the power of our own resources, political affiliations, earnings, and gains, but the power of his resurrection and cosmic glory that God offers to the most vulnerable among us.

Will we cling to our status and privileges as US citizens, while others have no protections? Or will we stand with our vulnerable border-crossing neighbors who do not share our privileges of birth, education, resources, and political stability? As Americans, will we buy into the lie that the more people who cross the border to share the American dream, the weaker the dream becomes? Afraid that our privileges will be diluted, will we try to hang on to those privileges by keeping others out—keeping would-be immigrants out with border walls or containing border crossers in detention centers? Or will we cling to what is simply a gift, a heavenly citizenship that we live into precisely by showing compassion to our immigrant and detainee brothers and sisters, hearing their stories, learning about the struggles they face, and advocating on their behalf, knowing that their presence makes our communities and our nation not weaker but stronger?

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