God's urgent call to hospitality

Nora Salinas (right) and Eddie Canales (joining by Zoom in the laptop), from the South Texas Center for Human Rights in Falfurrias, Texas, talk with MCC staff about migrant deaths and human rights in the borderlands region. MCC photo/Saulo Padilla

In August, a team of MCC staff from the U.S. and Mexico visited the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas to learn about and participate in the work of MCC partners in the region. We had many meaningful conversations with those who are migrating and displaced, and with those who work to provide assistance and support to families and individuals affected by harmful border policies. 

It was also a chance to evaluate how MCC learning tours, such as this one, provide spaces to foster solidarity, relationships, education, and mutual transformation. During this visit, we were challenged by the vulnerability we witnessed. In the past two decades, U.S. border policies have exacerbated the already dire circumstances of asylum seekers and displaced persons. What we witnessed during this visit left us once again with an increased sense of urgency to educate, advocate, and promote U.S. border and foreign policies that better align with God’s call to hospitality by protecting newcomers and providing safety. 

–Saulo Padilla

Send a message to immigration@mcc.org if you are interested in participating in a future borderlands learning tour.   

Policy updates

DACA court case
On September 13, a Texas district judge ruled that executive actions recently taken to extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program were unlawful. The Biden Administration will likely appeal this decision. In the meantime, DACA recipients will be allowed to renew their legal status. Ultimately, this case could reach the Supreme Court, but no short-term changes are expected. 

Oak Flat
The Apache Stronghold is still working to protect Oak Flat from a land transfer to the mining company Resolution Copper. Ask your representatives in the U.S. House to support H.R.1351 - Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act, and join Apache Stronghold for a day of prayer on November 4. Read more. 

Resources

Climate Action for Peace: International Day of Peace (worship resource) 

This year, MCC’s Peace Sunday packet centers on the theme of Climate Action for Peace. How can we bring about God’s vision of Shalom, a true and just peace, by addressing climate change? Download your copy today for use around the International Day of Peace, Sept. 21. 

 

Water is Life: World Food Day (worship resource)

This year’s commemoration of World Food Day on October 16 reminds us of the importance of water, highlighting its indispensability as a “driving force” in our lives. Download your copy of MCC’s World Food Day worship resource today.

Info sessions on sponsorship and refugee support (virtual)
Eager to learn how you and your church can welcome newcomers in your community? Church World Service is conducting a series of informational sessions to learn about private sponsorship programs and other ways to support refugee families. The next information session is Sept. 25. Register for a session. 

Climate Action for Peace

Taking climate action for peace   
Join MCC in taking climate action for peace! Visit ClimateActionForPeace.com for resources, stories, worship guides, advocacy tools and more.  

Events

Nov. 1-3: Pipeline to Prison Learning Tour (Elkhart, Indiana)
Join MCC for this three-day learning tour focusing on the complex dynamics of the U.S. criminal legal system. Participants will learn about systemic issues of racism and mass incarceration and hear diverse perspectives from people experiencing arrest, incarceration and re-entry. Register for the learning tour. 
 

Jan 3-8: Peace Camp: Liberty and Justice for All? (Camp Deerpark, New York)

Princess Tshuma, left, and Laura Rodriguez Reyes, right, watch Mwajuma Katembo and Josephine Kalondji dancing during free time at the week-long "Peace for the weary" camp for young adults held at Camp Deerpark, New York, in January 2023. MCC Photo/Yujin Kim

Calling all young adults for a week-long experience at Camp Deerpark in New York from Jan. 3-8, 2024! Liberty and Justice for All? Peace Camp will focus on the criminal legal system in the U.S. and explore transformative justice as a biblical means to peace. Register today.  

Staff updates

NPJM is hiring!
Find out more about the position of MCC U.S. Peace Education Coordinator. The coordinator will lead MCC’s church education efforts in the U.S. related to peace and nonviolence, nurturing a commitment to Christ’s way of peace among youth and adults in constituent communities. Application deadline is Oct. 16. 

Welcome, Serim! 

Serim Park joins NPJM in Washington, D.C., as part of the year-long International Voluntary Exchange Program (IVEP) to work on advocacy related to the Korean Peninsula. She has a B.A. in East Asia International Studies from Yonsei University, Mirae Campus, in South Korea. Serim is excited to learn about advocacy and how she can contribute to bringing peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Welcome, Aidan! 

On September 4, Aidan Yoder joined NPJM as an advocacy intern for the fall semester focusing on U.S. policy related to climate change and militarism. Aidan is beginning his junior year at Eastern Mennonite University where he is majoring in history and political science.  

Holy/wholly listening
In August, Jes Stoltzfus Buller gave the keynote address at the MC USA Western District Conference Annual Assembly in Newton, Kansas, on the topic of holy/wholly listening, encouraging attendees to listen to one another across differences. Read a reflection on the assembly.  

Peace camp in Cincinnati

Peace camp participants at Acton Lake, Ohio. MCC Photo/Saulo Padilla

On August 26-27, youth and young adults from U.S. Mennonite Brethren churches in Cincinnati, Ohio, attended a weekend peace camp facilitated by NPJM staff. Through activities and discussions, they learned about trauma awareness, responses to conflict, storytelling, and the identity of refugees and migrants in the Bible.

Pastors trained in peaceful practices
In August, Jes Stoltzfus Buller led a training on the Peaceful Practices Sunday school curriculum for MCC East Coast program staff and local pastors in Akron, Pennsylvania. Over two days, participants practiced skills for engaging conflict positively in their personal lives and communities. Read more about the Peaceful Practices curriculum and order or download a copy. 

Immigration law training a success!

Forty-four individuals representing 29 different organizations and churches met in Akron, Pennsylvania, for a 40-hour immigration law training from September 11-15. Successful completion of the training will help them become accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice and equip them to offer low-cost immigration services to migrants.

In closing

In the migrant journey

Children play under the shade of a blanket in 97 degree weather, as their families wait for weeks or months for an appointment through the CBP One App, in a tent city in Reynosa, Tamaulipas State, Mexico. MCC Photo/Saulo Padilla

I walk with my brothers and sisters in desolation.
Are you here God?
Please don’t be far.
I am afraid and my soul is trembling.
You cried in Gethsemane, come cry with me.

Many hunt for us and we are accused of breaking the law;
You have been persecuted,
come be our witness,
defend our cause.

Make known the roots of our suffering and the causes of our journey.
Make public that our intentions are in accord to your law.

Nurture our spirits while we are far from home.
Be with our loved ones.
Do not let time erase the way back home,
so that we may not live in exile forever.

The desert is arid and thirst awaits us.
You know the desert.
You’ve been exiled.
Come walk with us,
and bring a fountain of justice into our lives.

Sow seeds of peace and justice in the hearts and minds of those who resist our journey.
Let us be seeds of peace and hope in our new home, this land of our exile. Amen.

–Excerpted from In the Migrant Journey by Saulo Padilla, migration education coordinator, MCC. U.S. National Peace & Justice Ministries