Foreigners In Our Midst

Sermon delivered by Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister, July 8, 2007

There has been a lot of talk and a lot of politics regarding immigrants and aliens recently. Some people don’t think religion has anything to say about a topic as political as immigration. However, the Christian and Jewish scriptures have a lot to say about "resident aliens," foreigners in your midst; sojourners and strangers among you. In Exodus 22:21 it proclaims, "You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." Leviticus 19:34 says, "The alien who resides among you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." Even the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews tells us, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels unawares." Does the fact that the Bible has a major preoccupation with the fair treatment of aliens and strangers have any bearing on the current immigration debate in our country? The rationale in the Bible that the Jews were once foreigners in a strange land, could remind the majority of Americans that most of us are the descendants of immigrants. Any debate that fuels so much passion requires a religious response.