{"id":18226,"date":"2018-07-25T19:41:12","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T02:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=18226"},"modified":"2018-07-26T13:05:52","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T20:05:52","slug":"8-ways-churches-can-respond-to-the-separation-of-asylum-seeking-families-choose-at-least-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/8-ways-churches-can-respond-to-the-separation-of-asylum-seeking-families-choose-at-least-one\/","title":{"rendered":"8 ways Churches can respond to the separation of asylum-seeking families: Choose (at least) one"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The current situation \u201ca<\/em>s of Tuesday, July 24, [is that] over 1000 children ages 5-17 are reportedly yet to be reunited with their parents.\u00a0The court deadline for reunification of all separated children remains July 26, 2018.\u201d[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The news continues to cover the situation of the families who were separated as they entered the United States seeking asylum.\u00a0I often get overwhelmed by feelings of anger and sadness as I hear the stories and read the numbers. In response I try to remind myself that the work of building a loving community that treats all of God\u2019s creatures and creation with love and respect is an on-going work; it is work for a lifetime. This is work that cannot be set aside as the cries of the children and parents call out for a response.<\/p>\n

The Interfaith Immigration Coalition has created a Toolkit on Ending Family Separation <\/strong>which is extensive and includes background information, history, media resources, and\u00a08 specific actions for churches. <\/em><\/p>\n

View Toolkit:<\/strong> bit.ly\/EndFamilySeparationToolkit<\/a><\/h5>\n

Please check this out and choose (at least) one way <\/strong>that you and your church will use to help end family separation of asylum seekers. Each person\u2019s and each church\u2019s action to end this injustice is how we can avoid becoming stuck in feeling overwhelmed and find that we can contribute making God\u2019s Kin-dom visible today and for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

And let us pray:<\/p>\n

For the past\u00a0and violence sown
\nthat made land unlivable,
\nsocieties unstable and
\neconomies unsustainable,<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0may we confess and repair<\/strong>:\u2026<\/p>\n

For the present\u00a0suffering
\nand the assault on the Image of God
\nand humanity of every person,<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0may we repent and rise up\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the future, which will only be full of life and justice
\nif we are bold and courageous enough
\nto demand and make it together now,<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0go with us Holy Spirit in the strong name of Jesus.
\n<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Amen.[2]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Addendum – \u00a0Click here<\/a> for an\u00a0excellent discussion of current situation of the families who entered US seeking asylum on public radio.<\/p>\n

\n

[1]\u00a0<\/a>Interfaith Toolkit to End Family Incarceration & Separation\u00a0and Keep Families Together\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>– Click here to view.<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0<\/a>Extracted from a prayer included in the Toolkit written by the Rev. Tracy Howe Wispelwey, Minister of Congregational and Community Engagement, Justice and Local Church Ministries. The original prayer is longer and more complete.<\/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":"

Sharing how she can get “overwhelmed by feelings of anger and sadness” as she hears the stories of families who were separated as they entered the US, Rev. Lyda Pierce reminds us of the importance of action in countering such feelings. She also shares a new toolkit with 8 ways faith communities can respond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":18227,"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-18226","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\/07\/immigration-pixabay.jpg?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-4JY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18226","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=18226"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18243,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18226\/revisions\/18243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}