And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:19
We’re a couple of weeks away from July 4 as I write. So I want to offer some thoughts around the topic of our American ideals.
When I lived in France for a year, a friend and I hitchhiked to Paris once. On the freeway somewhere, the police stopped us. They asked for passports. I presented mine first. They assumed I and my friend (who was French) spoke no French. So they just waved us off the highway. An American passport in France turned out to be a convenience.
When I lived in Zaire (now Congo) for a year, some friends invited me on a picnic on an island in the Zaire River. We didn’t realize that Zairian law required us to be off the island by sunset. It was a restricted area, to try to control smuggling.
When we sauntered across the bridge after dark back to the shore, a squad of soldiers met us. Luckily the driver of my car spoke some Kituba. So did the officer, who demanded to know what we were up to. We told him. He finally got disgusted, pointed to an unlit shack off in the woods, and told us he would put us in there and hold us if we didn’t tell the truth. We palavered for an hour or two. It turned out they just wanted to shake us down for whatever food we had left, and some money. They got the food and let us go.
On the drive back into town, we all admitted that the prospect of being held incommunicado was sobering. But we also realized that there were people who knew where we were, and if we didn’t show up, they would ask questions. And if push came to shove, we had American passports. Somebody at the American embassy would come for us if it came to that. In that case an American passport was a God-send.
It can be hard to be a foreigner—even if you have papers.
The truth is there are all kinds of places in the world where the niceties of any passport make little difference. People get killed or jailed or run out of their homes without any legalities at all.
It is an incredible blessing to live in a country of law. It is also a blessing to be able to receive people from places where law is held in less esteem.
I believe that when we are at our best in this country, we do our best to welcome strangers, to make them feel accepted. That among other reasons is why I am so dismayed by the campaign to overturn the recent Dream Act to allow the children of illegal immigrants who qualify to pay in-state tuition at Maryland colleges. The effort to repeal appeals to our fears, resentments, and too often, gross misinformation.
For Christians part of our story is having ancestors (albeit spiritual) who were slaves, foreigners, undocumented aliens in Egypt. Somehow we forget that piece of who we are. It’s time to remember.
Grace and peace, Jamie
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