Refugees & Weeping
Jesus was a refugee. Jesus IS a refugee (and their name is Jakelin Caal Maquin, Felipe Gomez Alonzo). A weeping mother refuses to be consoled. What if the truest thing we can say from this Scripture is that we too ought to be inconsolable in the face of the horrific? Pastor Megan preaches a word of lament.
Audio
Resources
- Image: detail from “Refugees: La Sagrada Familia” icon by Kelly Latimore
- “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reminds Followers that Jesus was also a Refugee in Christmas Message,” Newsweek, December 25, 2018.
- “Ocasio-Cortez gets abuse on Twitter for saying ‘Christ’s family were refugees too’ in Christmas message,” The Independent, December 27, 2018.
- Cory Driver, “Commentary on Matthew 2.1-23.”
- “Away From the Manger,” Liz Vice.
- “Jesus Was a Refugee,” SALT, December 5, 2018.
- Thomas Bohache, “Matthew,” The Queer Bible Commentary, 497.
- “Migrant Girl’s ‘Horrific, Tragic’ Death Is Not Its Responsibility, White House Says,” Ron Nixon, December 14, 2018.
- “8-Year-Old Migrant Child From Guatemala Dies in U.S. Custody,” Miriam Jordan, December 25, 2018.
- private email, December 17, 2018.
- “Immigration Authorities Systematically Deny Medical Care for Migrants Who Speak Indigenous Languages,” December 21, 2018.
“Away From the Manger (The Refugee King),” by Liz Vice [Listen HERE!]
Away from the manger they ran for their lives
The crying boy Jesus, a son they must hide
A dream came to Joseph, they fled in the night
And they ran and they ran and they ran
No stars in the sky but the Spirit of God (Light?)
Led down into egypt from Herod to hide
No place for his parents no country or tribe
And they ran and they ran and they ran
Stay near me LORD Jesus when danger is nigh
And keep us from herods and all of their lies
I love the LORD Jesus, the Refugee King
And we sing and we sing and we sing… Alleluja…
Rain Knows No Borders, by Julia Baker
When threats in the barrio
pounded her mother-heart—
she knelt on thinning survival
and prayed for flight.
She saw alas, feathers
against brilliant blue
to carry her hija
on wing
lifting them both above
la tierra
where gunshots pour
through a gaping wound.
They flew
toward Liberty’s light,
trusting the Mother of Exiles
to welcome them.
“Give me your poor,
hungry, tired, huddled masses
yearning to breathe free.”
Now everything is bone-dry,
blazing borderland,
searchlights in the night
blinding shared humanity.
Her baby’s feet stand alone
on unknown soil
bright pink sweater
big brown eyes, face full
of every adored child’s wail.
¡Mamá!
translates in every language.
Drenched in tears and amor,
she never imagined
her daughter
would be the caged bird.
Through bars
of red, white and blue
she looks up at the same
bright sky, praying we awake
to rain healing all soil.
@kellylatimoreicons: A statement: Everyone. I want art to speak for itself. But……The recent events are horrible. I realize Trump has become “an idol of the tribe”. Meaning Trump; who he is, his administration, his rhetoric and policies are just the tip of the iceberg to the overwhelming division, injustice, violence, fear, and hate that is being perpetuated by those individuals we are most likely encountering in our everyday in our various communities. Without going into great detail, much of the inspiration for both of the refugee images came about while sitting around a campfire with a young man who “illegally” came into the united states. His stories about his journey through the desert and the reasons he was in the united states, about the fear and pain he carried, yet also all his hope, impacted me deeply. Immigration and the plight of refugees is a ongoing political ‘issue’. The icons I want to paint are the kind that will hopefully create dialogue and inspire us to ask questions to ourselves and to our neighbors. “Refugees: La Sagrada Familia” depicts the Holy Family in such a way that people have either resonated with the image or have been very triggered by it. I think both reactions are important. By transcending our biases, listening and having inner silence about our convictions, our inherited traditions, or our favorite ideas we can become open to the patterns of work, knowledge and experience we may not have seen in the other or buried in ourselves. We can see the people around us that are working through their own shit. We can see the journey of any refugee as not simply a political issue, or an issue at all, that we are talking about people,with names, faces and stories. They have something to teach us about what we know, about who God is, the world we live in and who are our neighbors. This is the real work of being human and of art. Being more present. Go be present. Kelly #refugee #immigration #iconography #borderwall #trump #mexicocaravan