President Trump’s recent executive order closes our borders to seven predominantly Muslim nations and prohibits refugees from seeking safety in our country. Another of his executive actions calls for building a wall along our southern border. We strenuously disagree with these actions on the basis that—as Jesus himself made clear—when we feed, clothe, and welcome the stranger, we are caring for Christ Himself (Matthew 25).
Furthermore, we believe that part of the Church’s purpose is precisely to oppose this sort of discrimination. The Confession of Belhar, first written in Afrikaans during Apartheid and later adopted by the Presbyterian Church (USA), states that “…enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered, and accordingly … anything which threatens this unity may have no place in the church and must be resisted.”
As Christians we remember that this temporary earthly home, and these temporary earthly lives, are urgent opportunities for us to know and witness to the love of God—a love that surpasses all understanding, regrets all human-made boundaries, and brooks no fear. As a community we commit our hands, our hearts, our minds, and our spirits to this love, and to the audacious inclusion to which it calls us.