{"id":17515,"date":"2018-03-21T17:34:40","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T00:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=17515"},"modified":"2018-03-21T17:34:40","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T00:34:40","slug":"where-are-the-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/where-are-the-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Where are the Refugees?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the Rev. Lyda Pierce<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Currently there are 22.5 million refugees around the world – the highest number in recorded history. Yet at this time of great need the US government set an all-time low goal for refugees admissions for the 2018 fiscal year of 45,000. To make matters worse, the administration is on track to only receive 20,000. By March 31, half-way through the fiscal year, less than 10,000 will have been resettled, not even meeting their own goal.<\/p>\n

I was taught in Sunday School that the church is committed to care for refugees because God loves them as much as any us. I was taught in 5th<\/sup> grade social studies class that the United States is based on a basic value of respect for everyone\u2019s life, and that the words at the base of the Statue of Liberty define a commitment to receive those in need:<\/p>\n

Give me your tired, your poor,
\nYour huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
\nThe wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
\nSend these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
\nI lift my lamp beside the golden door! [1]<\/a><\/p>\n

In a time of such great need, why are so few of these refugees arriving in this country?<\/p>\n

We are a global church. And the people called United Methodist in the Pacific Northwest make our home in the United States. We do not control all that this country does. However, we do have the power of voice based on God\u2019s call to love and care for the stranger, the immigrant, and our neighbor.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s all join in the Wednesday, March 28, National Call-in Day<\/strong> to let Congress and the White House know of our desire for more refugees to arrive in the US and settle in our communities.<\/p>\n

Click here for help in how to join the Call-In.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

To keep up to date and to be reminded of this Call-In, join the Facebook group We Welcome Immigrants – UMC of the Greater\u00a0Northwest<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\n

The Rev. Lyda Pierce<\/strong> serves as director of Hispanic\/Latino Ministries for the\u00a0Pacific Northwest Conference Office of Connectional Ministries.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rev. Lyda Pierce, director of Hispanic\/Latino Ministries for the\u00a0Pacific Northwest Conference, asks a hard question. “In a time of such great need [a record 22.5 million refugees globally], why are so few of these refugees arriving in this country?” She also invites her fellow United Methodists to lift up their voice during a National Call-in Day on Wed., March 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":17517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,246,157],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-justice","8":"category-ethnic-ministries","9":"category-immigration"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/usa-tacoma-2018-jeffrey-tch-118.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-4yv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17515"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17520,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17515\/revisions\/17520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}