I haven’t yet responded to the recent headlines on immigrants, migrants, and those seeking asylum, nor the actions taken along the border between the United States and Mexico because I have simply been too heartbroken. Over and over again, the Bible tells us that we are to welcome the stranger and treat the alien among us as a neighbor. The gulf between what we are doing and what we should be doing is like that between the rich man and Lazarus. I have heard the protestations, objections, and difficulties involved in doing what the Bible tells us we are to do, but above all that din, I can still hear the voice of God, and we are not heeding it.

If you want some examples of what the Bible says here are a few highlighted in The United Methodist Book of Resolutions: Leviticus 19:33-34; Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Deuteronomy 10:19; 24:18-22; Matthew 2:13-18 (in which the child Jesus himself is the one seeking asylum); and perhaps most importantly Matthew 25:31-46 (in which the nations of the world are judged).