The following ran in the August 4, 2014 edition of "The Commercial Appeal."
In Response to the Current Humanitarian Crisis along the Border
We, leaders of faith communities throughout Memphis and
Shelby County, together with agencies specializing in the ongoing care of
children, unite to speak to the humanitarian crisis in which over 57,000
unaccompanied children, between the ages of 3 months and 17 years are encamped within
the borders of The United States.
Projections of increasing numbers of children to come notwithstanding,
in this current moment we hear the cries of these children who are already here. Believing that silence in the face of what is
before us is both morally unacceptable and unfaithful we come together to offer
ourselves in partnership with governmental agencies to provide care for these
children.
No matter the cause, no matter our paths to God, we
believe there are moral and religious imperatives calling for a compassionate
response in keeping with the very faith we claim. Our holy scriptures compel us to action:
“Don’t mistreat any foreigners who
live in your land. Instead, treat them as well as you treat citizens and
love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in
the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” – Leviticus 19.33-34
In Matthew’s Gospel – Jesus said
that our care for the hungry, the sick, and the stranger is an outward and
visible sign of our love for him: “‘Truly
I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of
my family, you did it to me.’” - Matthew 25.40b
The Quran says “Be kind to your
parents, relatives, orphans, the destitute, your near and distant neighbors,
your companions, wayfarers..” Ch.4 V 36
"By the breath of children
God sustains the world." Talmud Bavli,
Shabbat 119b
“Be sure to welcome strangers into
your home. By doing this, some people have welcomed angels as guests, without
even knowing it. Hebrews 13.1
We live and serve in Memphis, “the city of good
abode.” We respond to crisis. We come together. This is what we do. As we did with victims of Hurricane Katrina,
as we’ve done and continue to do for the sake of quality public education for
our children, we summon the best parts of us to find a way out of no way. It defines our character as a community.
We recognize this moment requires a partnership between
government and faith communities. We
invite leaders at the local and state levels to join us. Such a partnership and
the process developed to provide any of a number of services for these children
while long term solutions are sought could be a model easily replicated across
the country. We have been blessed with
the gifts and graces of compassionate hearts and logistical skill sufficient to
make that level of impact on our country.
We affirm the mandate to respond to this crisis ever
aware of the continual humanitarian crisis at home, for the cries of our own
city’s children ring loudly in our ears, too.
We renew our commitment to work together for their sake believing that
“love doesn’t divide, it multiplies.” We
invite all faith communities to join us in this work believing it to be a
witness of our character as people of faith and as citizens of this place we
call home.
Eric Brand, Bellevue Baptist Church
Greg Diaz, Nueva Direccion
Earle Fisher, Abyssinian Baptist Church
Eddie Foster, Second Presbyterian Church
Micah Greenstein, Temple Israel
Johnny Jeffords, St. John’s United Methodist Church
David Jordan, Agape Child and Family Services
Larry Lloyd, Memphis Leadership Foundation
Johnny Long, Hope Church
Steve Montgomery, Idlewild Presbyterian Church
Eli Morris, Hope Church
Scott Morris, Church Health Center
Steve Moses, World Relief
Billy Posey, Hope Church
Kenneth Robinson, St. Andrew AME Church
Josh Ross, Sycamore View Church of Christ
Stacy Spencer, New Direction Christian Church
Sandy Willson, Second Presbyterian Church
Rolando Rostro, Iglesia Nueva Vida Church
Debra Kirkwood, Bethany Christian Services
Michael Allen, Catholic Charities of West Tennessee
