"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The stark contrast between these words and the words of multitudes of people on social media since the attack on Paris is hard for me to wrap my head around. Even worse, my heart breaks as I try to imagine what it is like for 130,000 Syrian people as they flee their homes in fear of being killed. This has been heavy on my heart long before the attack on Paris. Over the last year I have followed missionaries who serve in Iraq--or served, more accurately--as they have been forced to flee from their homes and churches. It has not been safe in the middle east for a long time, but especially for Christians, who are being raped and beheaded for their faith. Humans are being tortured just for confessing their love for Jesus.
I live in America, where I have absolutely no fear of being hurt due to being a Christian. I live in a country where the word "persecution" was recently used to describe a coffee chain making a cup that doesn't say "Merry Christmas" on it. I have never been harmed for my faith. On rare occasion, someone may laugh at it or call my faith "make-believe," but never have I feared for my life or my health. Christians in the United States are strangely removed from even being able to relate to how it would feel to know that any day terrorists could come into your town and crucify you--literally--for admitting you are a Christian.
I say strangely because there are times that I thank God that I live in this country. I am aware enough of the attacks on Christian elsewhere to feel lucky that, as of now, I live in a country where I do not have to worry about these things. At the same time, our safe world creates a disconnect from our brothers and sisters who are suffering. The American church is not the church. We are a small part of it. And yet, we somehow justify sitting back, knowing that other believers--other children of the most high God--are being murdered--and we are so afraid for our own safety that we say, "send them somewhere else."
Only, there is nowhere else. Other states and other countries have also chosen self-protection over true religion as James describes it. I can't help but wonder what the first apostles would think of American Christians' reaction (or lack of reaction) to the atrocities happening to fellow Christians today. The early church sold their possessions to meet the needs of fellow believers, and American Christians today think it is a sacrifice to give up their gourmet coffee a few times a month to sponsor a child in a third world country. We would like to say, "but the early church was not at war. We are at war." But the truth is that the early church knew persecution. Emperor Nero burned Christians at the stake to light his dinner parties, and the book of Acts is full of stories of the apostles being thrown in jail for their faith. In fact, almost all of the disciples ended up dying for their faith. So our excuse that we are at war does not acquit us of our responsibility to our brothers and sisters.
I am not saying that the answer is to welcome all refugees to the U.S. I do not pretend to have a simple answer. Furthermore, I think that anyone who does is either a genius or psychotic. Both sides of the refugee debate have valid arguments. Obviously we need to seek wisdom and make sure we are protecting our own families, too. But we cannot simply ignore the mass murder of human beings because they live in another country. We cannot pretend they do not exist because an ocean separates us. Especially as Christians, we need to realize that they are part of us. Because America is not the church. All Christians everywhere make up the church, and right now, a portion of the church is at risk of being killed, and a much bigger portion of the church only cares enough to say "keep them out of my country."
We need to do better. Again, I do not have all of the answers. I am not a politician and I am not well-versed even in current events. But I do know that to whom much is given, much is expected, and we, American Christians, have been given much. It is time to rise up and do something. We all have different resources and different abilities, so ask God what you should do, but here are some ideas:
1. Pray. Pray without ceasing. Pray for peace. Pray for the refugees. Pray that ISIS is stopped.
2. Stop acting like they are not people. Stop posting memes on social media that oversimplify what is going on and leave out the fact that these are not just foreigners, they are people. They are human beings. They are women and men and children and elderly. They are parents and sons and daughters. And many of them are our brothers and sisters. They are people. Regardless of your political views, view them as people. Speak of them as people and treat them as people.
3. GIVE. Again, to whom much is given, much is expected. I cannot go to Syria and help, but I can give to those who can. And here is a nice little list of places that are helping already. I also love Canon Andrew White's ministry, which is in Iraq, not Syria, but they have been helping victims of ISIS for a long time now.
We need to do better. Let it start with you.
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