To see Lady Liberty in person is inspiring. Looking up from the ferry that was taking us to Liberty Island, I was in awe of not only how beautiful the Statue of Liberty is but also how strong and hopeful and welcoming Lady Liberty appeared. We took our time to admire the statue from a variety of angles and then went underneath to view the small museum. It was there that I found the plaque bearing the words that had been running through my mind as we sailed toward the island:
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-tost, to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
These words are the concluding stanza to the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus.
As the granddaughter of immigrants, I am thankful for these words and for the sentiment they bear. My family found a home here in the United States because there was a spirit of welcome, an ideal that this is a place where anyone could find and make a home. These words also echo what we believe as Christians — God’s heart is for the least, the lost, those who have been treated unfairly, those who have been pushed to the margins. These ideals are found throughout the Bible.
June 20 is set aside each year as “World Refugee Day” and the theme set by the United Nations this year is “Until Everyone Is Safe.” This year’s event highlights the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, emphasizing that the right to seek safety is a fundamental human right that applies to everyone.
The history of the Lutheran Church in the United States is largely a history of people from northern Europe coming here to find a better life. Many of our congregations, over the years, have been there to welcome Vietnamese, Mung, Congolese, Afghan, Iraqi and South Sudanese folks. Some of the work of which I am most proud in the congregations I served is how we walked alongside people who had come to the United States through Global Refuge and Samaritas New American Services.
Thank you to all of you who have done and continue to do this gospel-centered work. If you would like to learn more or do more, I suggest you check out the ELCA’s AMMPARO ministry, Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services) or Samaritas New Americans.
“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
(Leviticus 19:33-34)
+BJST