It was brought to my attention recently that there is an event going on this Friday at 7pm at Church of the Good Shepherd (Durham, NC) entitled “Welcoming the Stranger: a biblical perspective on loving all our immigrant neighbors.”
In Exodus, God puts great emphasis on the treatment of the needy, including the sojourner:
“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 22:2
Reading this during this past week along with hearing about the event caught my attention, so I thought I should let others know about it. Here is the synopsis from the website:
In a time when “the immigration problem” is becoming more divisive, Christians must cut through the rhetoric on all sides and listen clearly to what God teaches us through the Bible. How do we, today, listen and respond to God’s declaration of love for the immigrant?
God loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt (Deut 10:18-19).
Instead of advocating for a particular stance on immigration reform, this event seeks to remind us that immigrants arepeople and not representatives ofa problem. What does it mean to love our immigrant neighbors in the Triangle, including undocumented immigrants?
Love does not eradicate the many worthy questions of immigration policy—what about those who are here illegally?, what about the economic realities?—but it does require us to engage. Loving our immigrant neighbors starts with learning, and that’s the purpose of this event, Welcoming the Stranger. We hope you will join us at this free community event. Please invite everyone you know.
Year in the Bible 