| Ain't From 'Round These Parts |
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| Written by Bert Montgomery | |||
| Friday, 14 May 2010 07:25 | |||
 Many years ago, my wife, Jency, met and dated, well . . . a foreigner.He came from a distant place, of which she knew very little. Though he could speak English, at times it seemed like a somewhat different language anyway – strange and unfamiliar phrasings, strange and unfamiliar emphases, strange and unfamiliar words, not to mention a heavy accent. In fact, Jency still occasionally refers to this boyfriend as “that great-looking guy with a wonderful accent from some far-away exotic land.” It took about two years – give or take a few months – for West Tennessee to break the young college-aged man of his accent and language peculiarities. Desperate to fit in with other young men in West Tennessee, and having been teased and picked on because of his differences, he worked hard to lose his accent and his strange and unfamiliar words and phrasings. And three years after he moved to Tennessee, Jency married that foreigner – an immigrant to Tennessee from the exotic world of New Orleans, Louisiana; and she mourns the fact that I felt forced to essentially lose my “wonderful accent” that romantically set me apart as being from “some far-away exotic land.” I've been thinking a lot lately about Joseph. You know, that Joseph – the one in the Bible with the Woodstock-era-Joe-Cocker-multi-colored-coat and all of his jealous brothers. How his brothers sold him into slavery. How he rose to a position of prominence. How his family came to Egypt for help when famine struck. How even after his death, his family remained and were quite fruitful and multiplied … “they were very prolific – a population explosion in their own right – and the land was filled with them” is how Peterson's The Message puts it. Then there arose a king in Egypt who “knew not Joseph,” who was a bit worried about all those foreigners in Egypt growing in numbers, and he saw the Israelites as competition – competition for food, land, wealth, and maybe even thinking about an eventual war for conquest. The obvious solution, then? Round 'em up. Control their whereabouts and their work lives. But the harder he pushed to control the Israelite population, the more kids they just kept on having. Then he started murdering all the boy babies – ordering them to be drowned in the Nile. It is a horrible thing to ponder the depth of human cruelty when acting out of fear and hatred and competition, especially when the ones being cruel have forgotten their past and their friendship and cooperation with their now-victims. Will Campbell tells a story of meeting a couple of “foreigners” from a far-away land who ended up in his neck of the woods in middle Tennessee. Says he and other neighbors gave the Hispanic men – only one of whom could speak just a little English – odd jobs here and there; primarily they did construction work. Will heard some folks say they were “illegal aliens.” Will, though, being a Baptist preacher, says that his understanding of Christianity tolerates “no notion of 'illegal somebody' or 'alien anybody' ” and thus, he counted them as simply “friends.” I can't help but think about Will's story and the story of Joseph and how the Israelites ended up as slaves in Egypt when I hear so much of the discussion and rhetoric today about immigration, especially when fellow people of faith – who hold the Bible in such high regard – seem to be echoing the fears and hatred of the Egyptian king who “knew not Joseph.” Our faith neither recognizes nor tolerates man-made state boundaries, national boundaries, language boundaries, religious boundaries, racial or ethnic boundaries. Our prejudices and our self-interests may desire to classify men, women, and children – all of whom are made in God's image; all of whom are deeply loved by God enough to even die for them – as “undesirable,” as “illegal,” or as “alien,” but our faith in the God of Abraham, our faith in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, does not recognize nor does it tolerate any notion of “illegal somebody” or “alien anybody.” I don't know what the government's plan of action should be regarding immigration, but I do know what the response of us as people of faith should be to our neighbors, and, as we celebrate our twenty-first wedding anniversary next month, I'm glad that Jency was open to dating – and marrying – a foreigner. . . . Leviticus 19:33-34 (The Message) "When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don't take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God, your God.” Galatians 3:28 (NRSV) There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Watch Steve Earle's video, “City of Immigrants,” by clicking here. Photo Credit © Bert Montgomery, 5/13/2010 Comments (2)
  written by Glen Peterson, May 19, 2010
The person named Bull makes a good point. It is so difficult to have a nuanced conversation about this topic. For myself, I am trying to identify when my buttons get pushed and not allow my emotions to take over. I do however want to be one of those Christians who steps out in faith for justice. Thanks again Bert.
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Write on, Bert!