Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

A pastoral response to an ethical analysis: Why we said ‘yes’ to being a sanctuary church

OpinionMaria Swearingen  |  March 24, 2017

The language we use when we talk about people sure is powerful. It shapes human relationships, geopolitical relationships, theological relationships, perhaps even all relationships.

Words like “citizen,” “refugee” and “immigrant” are powerful shapers of how we talk about, how we define, and how we understand ourselves and others. The stroke of a world leader’s pen, the battlefield along a national border, the economic drivers that seek out cheap labor, the xenophobic tendencies of a governing body — all of these things and more determine how each of us understands and defines ourselves, whether we care to admit it or not. We are either “citizens” in the land in which we reside or “immigrants” in the land that may or may not claim us. We are either “from here” or “not from here.” We are either “legal” or “illegal.”

Yet the gospel of Jesus Christ seems to press our language in a different direction, one that we don’t talk about much in America because our passport power has pacified us quite a lot over the last few hundred years. (Well, some of us, that is — particularly those of us who are white.) We haven’t had to think much about where our citizenship really lies, or what it means to renounce imperial powers and embrace the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ which overturns human-made borders and boundaries.

We don’t very often read our Scriptures through the lens of the immigrant experience. We don’t talk about Father Abraham and Mother Sarai as immigrants (I would even argue “illegal” ones — see Genesis 12:10-20) or Ruth as a refugee, or Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as slaves of the empire.

American Christians don’t talk about our holy book this way because we don’t have to.

When Paul tells us in Philippians that our “citizenship is in heaven,” it’s easy enough for American Christians to think this means that our one individual life has been granted an eternal “golden ticket” to the afterlife, not much unlike the “golden” passports granted to us in this life. It’s easy enough to conflate the salvation that comes in Christ with the salvation that comes in our red-white-and-blue status.

But an ancient Near Eastern Christian community would have known better. They would have understood the political weight this proclamation carried. They would have understood where Paul was pressing them. As they sat in homes, their eyes meeting across the Agape Meal and the cloud of persecution hovering close by, these words of Paul would have nailed them to the cross and brought them out of the tomb all at once.

As they gathered, slave and free, male and female, Jew and Greek, citizen and immigrant, Roman-passport-holder and landless refugee, they would have known that Jesus was calling them to a community much different from the one that the world around them touted and extolled. They would have remembered that their citizenship did not rely on the pen strokes of an empire, the acquisition of borders, or the shifting sands of world dominance. Together, across lines of great difference, that sacred Table, that bread and wine, that body and blood, was binding them together for a different kind of citizenship — one that could only be crafted by the liberating power of God.

Recently, Dr. David Gushee shared his rationale for why the sixth commitment of the Sanctuary Movement is one he cannot accept: hosting within the sanctuary’s walls undocumented immigrants facing the threat of deportation. Though I’m no ethicist, the best I can tell is that his reasoning is this decision would involve clergy and congregants breaking the law. While he does acknowledge that acts of civil disobedience can be moral even if unlawful, Gushee argues that while our immigration laws may need serious editing and amending, at their heart they are not unlawful or unjust. And because securing borders is a justifiable act on the part of any sovereign nation, addressing illegal entry into those borders is not, in and of itself, unlawful or unjust. So as I mentally dig for my Logic 101 notes, I think the question at hand is this: “Are the laws and policies seeking to secure America’s borders unjust?”

As the pastor of a congregation that has made a very different choice than Gushee’s, it has become increasingly clear to us that the answer to that question is a resounding “yes.” As we have learned more about the disproportionate targeting of black and brown immigrants, the rampant economic exploitation of immigrant laborers, and the immorality of unnecessarily tearing families apart, offering hospitality and sanctuary to people who find themselves buried under the rubble of the tangled mess we call “immigration law” is an act of civil disobedience in accordance with the gospel of Jesus Christ. While there is much more to say about how we got here, I would challenge Gushee and other clergy like him to press more deeply in several places:

1. Listen directly and deeply to stories of undocumented people. I don’t mean read articles about them or their experiences. I mean very specifically, talk with them, both to learn their stories and their experiences navigating our immigration system. (This, of course, requires one’s faith community to offer a level of hospitality that would make undocumented people feel safe enough to share their stories.)

2. In reference to my first point, if no one like that exists in your life, a re-evaluation regarding what relationships you do and do not have is well worth deeper reflection, particularly if you seek to make claims of your own social justice commitments as a pastor.

3. Spend time actually evaluating the immigration system and with each new thing you learn, ask yourself, “What would I do if faced with this dilemma?” And, as a follow-up, “How would it feel to me if others narrated my nearly impossible decision as illegal?” Finally, “Are the choices people are forced to make to come to this country truly reflective of an immigration system built on justice?”

4. After asking these micro-questions, ask these macro-questions, too. “In what ways does calling people ‘illegal’ serve the purposes of empire?” And, as a follow-up, “What would Jesus have to say about any language that serves the purposes of empire?”

In Acts 16, we find the Apostle Paul driving out a demon plaguing a slave girl. And soon after, we find Paul and Silas locked up in a prison cell.

Why were the slave girl’s owners so angry about this oppressive spirit being removed from her? Well, the text makes it pretty clear for us as readers. “But when their owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace.” There, the angry mob called them, in effect, “illegal.” But, Paul and Silas’ illegality was rooted in their disruption of economic exploitation and violence.

This story is a powerful reminder to me that language can put just about anybody in prison. It is a powerful reminder to me that language criminalizes people far sooner than laws ever do. Finally, it is a powerful reminder to me that before I call anyone “illegal,” I better think long and hard about it.

The Sunday before I read Gushee’s piece, our church hosted a “know-your-rights” training for the congregation and wider D.C. community. As we sifted through bullet point after bullet point, I could sense anxiety levels rising. How could they not? We were talking about establishing guardianship should deportation result in separation between parents and children. We were talking about ICE raids and detention centers. We were talking about the power of our words to unjustly detain and incarcerate whole swaths of people.

And at one point, I had about all I could stand as I thought about my passport tucked away safely in my house, ensuring that I never have to spend time anxiously flipping through a “know-your-rights” training, wondering if any wrong turn I make would result in my imprisonment. I tossed my notepad down on the floor, covered in ink blotches from my furious, frenzied notes. And in Spanish, I heard my spirit say out loud to this roomful of fellow brothers and sisters, “This whole system is built on ensuring that you understand yourselves as criminals. That you duck in and out of the shadows. That you never see yourselves as citizens of a particular place. But you are not criminals. You are not illegal. You are citizens of the kingdom of God. And no matter what anyone tells you, your citizenship is in heaven. And as a community of faith, we will do everything in our power to renounce this language of criminality, together.” The anxious tears that had been held tightly inside eyelids were flowing now, perhaps a bit more freely. Together, we prayed for God’s kingdom to reign on earth instead of the kingdoms we build on sand.

In case you were wondering, Acts 16 doesn’t end with Paul chained in a prison cell. As the story goes, “Suddenly, there was a violent earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.”

This reminds me that the God of liberation isn’t playing around. The God of liberation means to unfasten the chains and break the yoke, one way or another. We can choose to be participants in this unfastening, or we can choose to be prison guards of an empire that criminalizes people by calling them “illegal” whenever it benefits them economically or politically.

It’s worth noting that upon seeing those chains fall off of Paul and Silas’ hands, this stunned prison guard couldn’t help but ask, “What must I do to be saved?” Upon seeing those chains come off, this keeper of the guard couldn’t help but long for a different kind of citizenship, a different kind of salvation, a different kind of heaven. May it be so with us.

Related stories:

Engaging the immigration debate: Ethicist, pastor differ on New Sanctuary Movement

Religion students petition Baylor to become sanctuary campus

Trump inspiring more churches to enter sanctuary movement

Related opinion:

Being sanctuary: Calling churches to holy risk / Cody Sanders

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
More by
Maria Swearingen
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • What churches could learn from the Pub Choir phenomenon

      Opinion

    • What happens when church and state merge? Look to Nazi Germany for answers

      News

    • Trial date set for Patterson and Southwestern versus Jane Roe

      News

    • Southwestern Seminary student arrested for alleged ‘felony sexual assault’

      News


    Curated

    • N. Carolina church says it lost nearly $800K in email scam

      N. Carolina church says it lost nearly $800K in email scam

    • On A Mission To Fill Empty Pulpits: A Couple Addressing The Preacher Shortage

      On A Mission To Fill Empty Pulpits: A Couple Addressing The Preacher Shortage

    • Second gentleman Emhoff visits Auschwitz, part of a push against antisemitism

      Second gentleman Emhoff visits Auschwitz, part of a push against antisemitism

    • A Buddhist disaster relief organization offers key support after Monterey Park shooting

      A Buddhist disaster relief organization offers key support after Monterey Park shooting

    Read Next:

    Members of Florida church required to sign ‘biblical sexuality’ statement or be removed from membership

    NewsMark Wingfield

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Pope Francis arrives in Africa on a two-nation tour seeking peace amid decades of conflict

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • The church must show the world a more excellent way of nonviolence

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • Museum of the Bible to host Wednesday morning event to pray for God’s judgment on America, and breakfast is not included

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • National Prayer Breakfast gets new sponsorship but still looks like government-sponsored religion, BJC leaders say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • del Toro’s Pinocchio is a tale of faith that is not wooden

      AnalysisRick Pidcock

    • Zimbabwe Theological Seminary names new principal

      NewsBNG staff

    • What happens when church and state merge? Look to Nazi Germany for answers

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Church historian Richard Hughes reflects on a lifetime of ‘Troublesome Questions’

      OpinionTed Parks

    • Reverend Roboto: Artificial intelligence and pastoral care

      AnalysisKristen Thomason

    • What churches could learn from the Pub Choir phenomenon

      OpinionMike Frost

    • Southwestern Seminary student arrested for alleged ‘felony sexual assault’

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Trial date set for Patterson and Southwestern versus Jane Roe

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Living into lament: A white response to the killing of Tyre Nichols by police

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Faith groups must fight online hate, Interfaith Alliance urges

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Of church cemeteries, pulpit committees, crafts and sweet potato casserole

      OpinionChris Ayers

    • Colorado cake maker back in court, this time for refusing service to a transgender woman

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Of Margie, mountains and ‘El Shaddai’

      OpinionBert Montgomery

    • For every critic of Jesus and John Wayne there are many more positive responses Du Mez says

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • What I learned from meeting Martin Luther King in Louisville and Josie in Hopkinsville

      OpinionBill Thurman

    • Bob Banks, longtime SBC missions leader, dies at 91

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • On the baptism of our firstborn

      OpinionEmily Hull McGee

    • Members of Florida church required to sign ‘biblical sexuality’ statement or be removed from membership

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Eight months later, there’s renewed interest in Adam Hamilton’s video on why he’ll remain a United Methodist

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Life post-Roe: Is there middle ground between religious liberty and medical freedom?

      AnalysisMallory Challis

    • Pope Francis arrives in Africa on a two-nation tour seeking peace amid decades of conflict

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Museum of the Bible to host Wednesday morning event to pray for God’s judgment on America, and breakfast is not included

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • National Prayer Breakfast gets new sponsorship but still looks like government-sponsored religion, BJC leaders say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Zimbabwe Theological Seminary names new principal

      NewsBNG staff

    • What happens when church and state merge? Look to Nazi Germany for answers

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Southwestern Seminary student arrested for alleged ‘felony sexual assault’

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Trial date set for Patterson and Southwestern versus Jane Roe

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Faith groups must fight online hate, Interfaith Alliance urges

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Colorado cake maker back in court, this time for refusing service to a transgender woman

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • For every critic of Jesus and John Wayne there are many more positive responses Du Mez says

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Bob Banks, longtime SBC missions leader, dies at 91

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Members of Florida church required to sign ‘biblical sexuality’ statement or be removed from membership

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Eight months later, there’s renewed interest in Adam Hamilton’s video on why he’ll remain a United Methodist

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • 165 religious leaders plead with White House to abandon immigrant travel ban

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Knowing a church’s history on slavery can be a nudge toward redemption, historians say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Sandra and Andy Stanley: ‘We’re not perfect parents, but we’ve learned some things along the way’

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • United Methodists on alert for dissidents ‘poaching’ members and pastors

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • The other speech Martin Luther King gave at Southern Seminary in 1961

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Faith-based leaders discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of Biden’s proposed border policies

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • U.S. churches more likely to have adult and youth education programs than interfaith or ecumenical work

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Here’s Johnny! Embattled SBC pastor back in the pulpit and will headline a men’s conference

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Dan Hobbs, early leader of ABP and CBF, dies at 95

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • ‘Public safety ecosystems’ could help replace nation’s broken criminal justice system, evangelical leaders say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • The church must show the world a more excellent way of nonviolence

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • Church historian Richard Hughes reflects on a lifetime of ‘Troublesome Questions’

      OpinionTed Parks

    • What churches could learn from the Pub Choir phenomenon

      OpinionMike Frost

    • Living into lament: A white response to the killing of Tyre Nichols by police

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Of church cemeteries, pulpit committees, crafts and sweet potato casserole

      OpinionChris Ayers

    • Of Margie, mountains and ‘El Shaddai’

      OpinionBert Montgomery

    • What I learned from meeting Martin Luther King in Louisville and Josie in Hopkinsville

      OpinionBill Thurman

    • On the baptism of our firstborn

      OpinionEmily Hull McGee

    • Has virtual worship actually harmed Christianity?

      OpinionSara Robb-Scott

    • ‘What can we forgive?’: An interview with Matthew Ichihashi Potts on Forgiveness

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • My father’s faith

      OpinionBrett Younger

    • The apology that never came at Bubba-Doo’s

      OpinionCharles Qualls

    • Trump and his allegedly disloyal white evangelical supporters

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Doom-scrolling, sourdough starter and three kinds of kin

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Putin needs to be taken down

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • How my eyes were opened to America’s broken immigration system

      OpinionChristian Vaughn

    • Meditating with Buddhists and other Asian lessons

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • The Black resistance tradition and its fight for U.S. democracy

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Five book recommendations on creation stewardship for 2023

      OpinionDon Gordon

    • Queen Elizabeth was a role model for women in faith and leadership

      OpinionChrystal Cowan

    • Two football coaches went up to pray …

      OpinionPatrick Wilson

    • ‘Grief brain’: The three big deficits of grief

      OpinionLaurie Taylor

    • Prayer might not be enough

      OpinionTerry Austin

    • Mending broken pieces and broken lives with kintsugi

      OpinionPhawnda Moore

    • When my church and I let Jesus down: Jesus in the distressing disguise of the homeless

      OpinionChris Ayers

    • N. Carolina church says it lost nearly $800K in email scam

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • On A Mission To Fill Empty Pulpits: A Couple Addressing The Preacher Shortage

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Second gentleman Emhoff visits Auschwitz, part of a push against antisemitism

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • A Buddhist disaster relief organization offers key support after Monterey Park shooting

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • It shouldn’t seem so surprising when the pope says being gay ‘isn’t a crime’ – a Catholic theologian explains

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • USCCB official: The church must admit its role in destroying Native American culture

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • House bill would limit government authority over religious events

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • ‘He Gets Us’ organizers hope to spend $1 billion to promote Jesus. Will anyone care?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Twitter reinstated white nationalist Nick Fuentes. He lasted 24 hours.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • In Rare Rebuke, Elaine Chao Calls Out Trump’s Anti-Asian Attacks

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How Southern California helped birth white Christian nationalism

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Extreme Israeli group takes root in US with fundraising bid

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Review: Decolonizing Christianity

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Two Leaders Of The New US House Could Put Baptist Diversity In The News Spotlight

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Making Sweat Feel Spiritual Didn’t Start With SoulCycle

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • White Christian nationalism isn’t pro-life. It’s pro-order.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Stop Using the Bible to Dehumanize Transgender People | Opinion

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Martin Luther King Jr. Was A Saint, But Also Just A Man — That’s The Glory Of It

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • A Houston synagogue is tightening security after a woman broke in twice, damaged a Torah and harassed children

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Islamic paintings of the Prophet Muhammad are an important piece of history – here’s why art historians teach them

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Lutherans ordain first Palestinian woman pastor in Holy Land

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • 2 States Introduce Radical Bills To Prosecute Pregnant People For Abortions

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Flyers coach Tortorella defends Provorov’s Pride boycott

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • ‘Dream bigger’: How weekend marches keep advocates’ fight for Roe v. Wade alive on 50th anniversary

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS