In addition to today's Migration With Dignity Lectionary post, by Rev. Wesley Spears-Newsome, today's newsletter is also a chance to foreground a new section on our site, resources on Putting MWD Into Practice.

This page is a place to hold various policy proposals as conversation-starters, for education and conversation about ways we might move toward a world of migration with dignity. The first offering available is a new document by Hannah Bowman offering one possible set of steps to organize around for justice in the long term: Abolishing ICE, Welcoming Migrants through changes to immigration law, and Truth and Reconciliation work around the harms of mass deportation.

Please take a look and feel free to use the resources with your congregations or other groups! And if you have ideas you would like to share or make part of the conversation, please reach out as well: episcopalmigrationcaucus@gmail.com.

MWD Lectionary: Fifth Sunday of Easter

John 14:1–14

In John 14, Jesus makes the famous claim that “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The point of this claim, I believe, is not simple exclusivity but rather epistemological — as Christians, we know God through the person and character of Jesus. Philip objects to Jesus’ simplicity here and begs for him to “show us the Father,” but Jesus assures Philip that he already has what he needs. In some ways, knowing God is not all that complicated: God is known in the healing of the sick, the freeing of people, the visiting of those in prison, and sharing the dinner table. Jesus, after doing all these things, seems to be saying, “What more do you need to know?” 

Jesus precedes this claim with a statement about the character of God. He makes it plain (though, I suppose, not plain enough for poor Philip!): “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” In the Jewish hekhalot tradition there are many stories in which teachers, seers, and prophets visit the heavenly realm and it is depicted in a similar way — a palace with many rooms.[1] It’s also worth dwelling on the metaphor on a surface level. If the dwelling place of God in the heavens is a place with abundant space to accommodate so many people, how ought we think about our dwelling place on earth? If we know God through the person and character of Jesus who proclaims that God dwells in abundant housing, how should we regard the space we inhabit on earth? 

Much of the discourse around immigration for centuries has focused on whether there is enough “room” for migrants. Are there enough jobs, resources, and even homes for migrants to come and live in our midst? In the heavens there is no such scarcity and sometimes on the earth we think there’s more scarcity than there actually is. Truly there is enough for everyone on the earth, including migrants. It is human obsession with control, hoarding, and domination that creates the conditions for migration in the first place. When preaching on this passage an appropriate question to pose to congregations might be: how can we treat our world as if God has made it a palace with many rooms? What about our own church buildings? 

Refugee resettlement agencies have suffered incredible blows during the second Trump administration so far. These are folks dedicated to making sure there are many rooms for everyone in our country. How might your congregation support your local agency or non-profit by making room? 

[1] Fortress Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Kindle Edition).

Rev. Wesley Spears-Newsome (he/they) is a pastor, organizer, and author from North Carolina.