In the midst of this Advent season, the Rev. Michael Jarrett reflects on the current situation at the border—and suggests a way for churches to help.
As Daniel, our missionary curate, blows out the candles after the morning prayer service, the front door opens and another patient enters for the free clinic that we have at the mission today.
I’m still standing, silently reflecting on the New Testament reading we had this morning from Matthew 25 and 26.
It’s a strange juxtaposition of teachings—in Chapter 25, Jesus teaches us that whatever we do for the “least of these” we do for him, the King. Then in Chapter 26, when the disciples are indignant about the wasting of perfume that could be sold and the money given to the poor, Jesus responds, “The poor you will always have with you.”
[bctt tweet=”The poor you will always have with you.” username=”@c4so”]
Perhaps these are not two opposite teachings about the poor, but it does certainly seem that Jesus is telling his disciples “care about the poor” and then when they immediately put the teaching into practice, he says, “Ahh, don’t worry about it; the poor will always be here.” Which is it gonna be, Jesus?
Over the past several months, the border has once again been in the spotlight. But by and large, the work that Trinity on the Border and others have been doing down here has remained unchanged. Caravans are not really a new thing. Minors continue to come over unaccompanied by an adult. Children continue to be separated from the adult they are with as a matter of misunderstood policy that in some applications is terrible and in some instances is quite needed.
This is a confusing place, and there are no simple answers. What do we do? What should we do as a country? Or more importantly for the Church, what do we do as Christians? Is there a solution that answers both of these questions well?
[bctt tweet=”This is a confusing place, and there are no simple answers.” username=”@c4so”]
When we established this mission three years ago, our mission statement was: “We are a chapel and outreach mission serving the vulnerable on the South Texas/Mexico border.” But recently we made a slight change—largely because of this Matthew 25 – 26 tension that I mentioned above.
As I am typing this, there is a man sitting out in the waiting room. The clinic is over, and the volunteers are cleaning up around him. He is waiting for his wife who is in the exam room being seen by my wife, the doctor. Through none of my own brilliance, I have ended up on the “power” side of this human interaction. We are here to help him and his wife. But why?
To be honest, I feel zero emotional love for the guy. He might be a jerk, for all I know. I don’t know what is wrong with his wife either; she may have brought the whole of her problems on herself through bad decisions and self-absorbed pursuits of pleasure—then again, maybe not. Maybe the horrors they have experienced in the past month are unimaginable. If we were here simply to serve “the poor,” I think these historical questions about them would be important to me. But they are not. Because we are not here simply to serve the poor—we are here to serve Jesus.
[bctt tweet=”Because we are not here simply to serve the poor—we are here to serve Jesus.” username=”@c4so”]
That is the unifying element of what Christ desired in Matthew 25 and 26—serving him, visiting him, offering a prodigious “waste” of resources on him. And I have to keep reminding myself that thatis our mission. Perhaps it’s OK to waste resources—if it’s done in accordance with his values.
So our new mission statement now says that we are a chapel and outreach mission “serving Christ” on the South Texas/Mexico border. I think theologically that may be a little bit better. But now we have to be careful of going too far the other way. We have to be careful that “the poor” do not simply become a dehumanized group of people with whom we interact solely for the advancement of our own private relationship with Christ. I think the best prevention for this other extreme is realizing and engaging with the humanity of the people whom we serve.
[bctt tweet=”I think the best prevention for this other extreme is realizing and engaging with the humanity of the people whom we serve.” username=”@c4so”]
I have always enjoyed Christmas and Advent. But to be honest, for most of my life the nativity of Christ was little more than a necessary prelude to his crucifixion and resurrection. But since beginning this project here on the border, I have had an ever-deepening awareness of how beautiful these words should sound to us: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”
We have met fathers who have seen their young children shot in front of them by the cartels; we have seen mothers who watched their child fall from the trains on the journey north. There are parents who give their 11-year-old daughters birth control pills before beginning the journey, knowing the atrocities that may await her on the trip north but calculating that they are better than the atrocities that await her where they are.
Our team tries to keep in mind that the enemy is not nations, policies, political parties, or politicians even. The enemy is not cartels or the demand for drugs coming from our own country. The enemy is sin. The enemy is the evil one who would threaten to undo us, to deprive us of our humanity. The enemy is the darkness created by our diminished humanity. We need a Savior.
I think one of the countless gifts our Lord gives us is a renewal of our faculty to care—that is, to participate in his own love for everything he has made. Perhaps that is part of what he is getting at in Matthew 25: in as much as we serve the least of the King’s people, we are serving the King. Jesus is trying to help us to understand that we don’t serve the “least of these” for their own sake, nor do we serve them solely for his sake, but somehow as we engage each person, we are engaging our Lord himself.
[bctt tweet=”I think one of the countless gifts our Lord gives us is a renewal of our faculty to care.” username=”@c4so”]
One of the things I have been learning in my time down here is that Jesus does not ask me to take moral histories of the sick, the naked, the hungry, and (to make this point very clear) the imprisoned. His command is much simpler—to care. It seems that our primary approach must be to begin with treating all people with the dignity due to them solely because they were created in the image of our Lord God and Savior. This is a great ideal. It’s a lot harder to put into practice when it begins to conflict with some of my other desires for my life, my future, my family, and my personal preferences. The important thing is that, whether easy or not, it is the clear calling of the gospel that we approach all people with these values our Lord has given us.
[bctt tweet=”It seems that our primary approach must be to begin with treating all people with the dignity due to them solely because they were created in the image of our Lord God and Savior.” username=”@c4so”]
The Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, TX, processes 200-500 immigrants a day. The La Posada shelter has 30-40 immigrant clients living there on any given day. These are people who have travelled thousands of miles with a glimmer of hope to make life better for their children. Although I’m not supposed to be taking moral histories, I can’t help but note that they came here with the very values I champion in our own country. But regardless, they are human beings for whom our King was willing to give his life.
Trinity on the Border recently took on the task of providing these assistance ministries with basic hygiene kits (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.), and I’ve spent some time thinking about this work. Of course, these kits are nothing life-saving—only some soap and a toothbrush, more or less. After travelling three months without soap and toothpaste, I think it’s fair to guess they could go another few days without. But these little kits are a simple and profound way of engaging their humanity, of offering them the dignity to take care of themselves in this little way—by getting cleaned up.
I’ll admit, the cynic in me wonders if, when the King comes, he will look at me and say, “I travelled thousands of miles on foot, fleeing unimaginable violence and hopeless poverty, risking my family’s lives—and you gave me a bar of soap?” But every time I have the opportunity to take gifts from churches over to the shelters, when I see the actual men and women there, when I play with their kids, when I hear their stories, I can honestly say that I think the conversation may go more like this: “I was exhausted, dirty, unsure of my future and scared for my children … and you treated me like a human being.”
C4SO is inviting churches to participate this Advent-Christmas season by sending hygiene kits and donating to the work of Trinity on the Border. For all the details on how your church can come together to put together and send these hygiene kits, learn more here.
Fr. Michael and Dr. Erica Jarrett are the founders of Trinity on the Border—a chapel and outreach mission serving Christ along the South Texas/Mexico border. Part of Michael’s duties include helping immigrant shelters and serving as a chaplain in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. You can join him in Morning and Evening prayer each day at thetrinitymission.org.
If you would like to learn more about how you and your church can participate in their work on the border from wherever you are in the country, check out thebordermission.org.