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I didn't know what to say.....

 I wanted to write last week about what was happening in the United States because of the executive order banning refugees from those seven countries. But there was so much wrong with what I was seeing that I didn’t know where to begin.

Then these arrived in my inbox from “Sojourners, Voice & Verse”, which daily pairs up a biblical verse with a quote from a current source and then its both into the perspective of prayer.

Verse of the day
“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”       -1 John 4:16
Voice of the day
“True love breathes salvation back into me.” - Beyoncé
Prayer of the day
Root us in your grace, Jesus. Let it lead us in all that we do. 

They were for me, at that particular time, just what I needed to hear. I needed to be reminded that love is what God is, that love is what makes me whole, that that love is to be found in the teachings of Jesus. It was as if someone had said the words “Whoa, steady there. There is a way forward!’

I have seen this love being expressed this same week in the many vigils across Canada that have been held both large cities, and small villages for the terrorist attack and massacre on the Quebec Isamic Cultural Centre where 6 men were killed and 8 others were injured on Sunday, January 29th. This was just one day after the executive order was signed by President Trump suspending the US refugee programme for 120 days as well as specifically targeting Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. And that brings the results of Trump’s executive order to our doorstep and into our country. It is no longer just something happening  ‘over there”. 


During World War II, 907 Jewish refugees aboard the German transatlantic liner St. Louis were turned away from Halifax harbour by Canadian authorities. 254 would later die in concentration camps. A monument, ‘The Wheel of Conscience’, to this event can be found at the Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax.




Don’t let our country be guilty of doing nothing again. Encourage the government to repel the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement, whereby ‘persons seeking refugee protection must make a claim in the first country they arrive in (United States or Canada), unless they qualify for an exception to the Agreement. Therefore, refugee claimants arriving from the United States at the Canada–United States land border can only pursue their refugee claims in Canada if they meet an exception under the Safe Third Country’  [Wikipedia]. This means that refugees who are crossing the border into Canada to flee from what is happening in the States cannot applying for refugee status at the border. For one way to respond to this go to Amnesty International at http://www.amnesty.ca/, scroll down and click on SEND A MESSAGE under USA: not a safe place for refugees.

Remember, it may say in Deuteronomy 10:18-19, that “God defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.” 

You are not only ‘hands and feet, but also the voice of God’ in this world AND in this country.







Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 8, 2017 at 12:11 PM

    Your reflection and the sources you use also point towards focus. It is good to keep our efforts of support focused on those who are fleeing for safety, fleeing to keep their lives and their freedom intact. We live in an increasingly unstable time and having certainty and faith about what needs our help and efforts is a good thing. These Scriptures and voices of the Spirit in our culture are grounding. Thanks! Carol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lynn EdwardFebruary 9, 2017 at 4:01 PM

      You make a good point. Having a focus does make a huge difference in our ability to cope with and respond to all that is happening,

      Delete

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