Dear loving God, we approach your throne of grace in our journey; journeying from painful experiences to your peace-filled reign. Our journey is both spiritual and physical. Sometimes we travel from sorrow to joy and other times our journey takes us from a location of despair to a place of hope. Help us to see life through our migrant neighbors’ lens and turn us from frustration to solidarity and graciousness through Jesus Christ. Amen.
-Rev. Kalaba Chali, Coordinator of Mercy and Justice
The biblical narratives portray Jesus who experiences migration in twofold: First, Jesus leaves heaven to come down and live among other humans for the salvation of humanity. Second, as a child, Jesus is taken to a neighboring country by his parents because his life was in danger at the brutality of Herod. While the former experience depicts a journey from a peaceful reality to a troubled and distressful environment, the latter goes from a dangerous setting to a nonviolent situation (Egypt). Hence, Jesus is a migrant par excellence. It is a story in tension. Waiting for Jesus invites us to live in tension with reality and all its complexities.
You are invited to wait through prayer of reflection. Reflect on the stories of Jesus the migrant as we encounter the conflicting stories of today’s migrants and refugees. For, it is at the intersection of our conflicting stories where our waiting comes to an end, God becomes one of us through Christ.
Resources