Strangers Here
May 16, 2017
We are all from somewhere and ...
Somewhere along the line our people have been invaded, oppressed, enslaved, and, victimized or ...
Been invaders, oppressors, slave "owners," and those who victimize ... or/and
BOTH!
AND/OR/AND ... looking for a place of opportunity and willing to contribute to the community where we have settled down.
God, forgive us for the injustices of the past. Your Word calls us to confess collective sins in which we may not have directly participated. But we have benefited from the suffering of others and continue to do so. Show us the way to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with you in a new vision of a new and beloved community that welcomes the stranger and honors those whose toils have tilled the soil from which we sow and reap.
The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. -Leviticus 19:34 NKJV
That's the BIBLE!
And it gets a little stronger when you start following the words of Jesus!
"Love thy neighbor as thyself."