Responsive Reading

 

Remember the Immigrant

 

We serve a God who directs us to care especially for those most vulnerable in society. Our Scriptures tell us of God’s special concern for the “alien” or the “stranger,” or as more contemporary translations say—the immigrant.

For the Lord our God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. God defends the cause of the orphan and the widow, and loves the immigrant, giving the immigrant food and clothing. And we are to love those who are immigrants, for God’s people were immigrants in Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)

 

We ask God to open our eyes to the struggles of immigrant workers, for we know that:

We must not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether the worker is a resident or immigrant living in our town. We must pay the worker the wages promptly because the worker is poor and counting on it. (Deuteronomy 24:14)

 

God’s desire is that those who build houses may live in them,

And that those who plant may eat. (Isaiah 65:22)

 

And yet we know this is not possible for many in our midst.

We know of farmworkers who cannot feed their families, construction workers who have no homes, nursing home workers who have no health care, restaurant workers who can not afford a meal in the restaurant.

 

We know that too many immigrant workers among us are not receiving the fruits of their labor, nor the justice required by the courts.

God charges our judges to hear disputes and judge fairly, whether the case involves citizens or immigrants.  (Deuteronomy 1:16)

 

But our laws do not adequately protect immigrants. Our legal and social service programs exclude many immigrants. Our education programs undervalue immigrant children.

God tells us that the community is to have the same rules for citizens and for immigrants living among us.  His is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. Citizens and immigrants shall be the same before the Lord.  (Numbers 15:15)

 

When an immigrant lives in our land,

We will not mistreat him or her. We will treat an immigrant as one of our native born. We will love an immigrant as ourselves, for God’s people were once immigrants in Egypt. (Leviticus 19:33-34)

 

To those who employ immigrant workers, we lift up God’s command:

Do not oppress an immigrant. God’s people know how it feels to be immigrants because they were immigrants in Egypt.  (Exodus 23: 9)

 

And a special word to those who employ immigrant farmworkers:

Make sure immigrants get a day of rest. (Exodus 23:12)

 

To those who craft our immigration laws and policies, we lift up God’s command:

Do not deprive the immigrant or the orphan of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that God’s people were slaves in Egypt and the Lord our God redeemed them from there. (Deuteronomy 24:17-18)

 

To all of us who seek to do God’s will, help us to:

Love one another as God has loved us. Help us to treat immigrants with the justice and compassion that God shows to each of us.     Amen.

 

(from the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, www.nicwj.org/materials/materials_binserts.html)

 

 

Prayer of Confession

 

Tender and Fierce God,

whose work is justice and whose delight is mercy,

forgive us for ignoring the cries of workers

who labor under the tyranny of harassment, violence and poverty.

Free us from greed

that comforts our bodies and eats away at our souls.

Free us for a life of joyful resistance

to evil, injustice and oppression

in whatever forms they present themselves;

through Jesus Christ our only Lord.

Amen.

 

(from the United Methodist Church Labor Day Message, accessible at www.nicwj.org/materials/materials_binserts.html)

 

 

Alternate Responsive Reading

 

We gather today to lift up immigrants who live and work in our community. We give thanks for the many gifts and talents they bring to our nation.

We give thanks and pray for all living in our community, but especially those who are immigrants among us.

 

There are over 32 million immigrants in the U.S. living and working in cities, suburbs and rural areas across the nation.

One in eight workers today is foreign born.

 

Except for Native Americans, we were all once new to this country.

Some of us came to the U.S. escaping poverty or oppression.  Others of us were forced here on slave ships. Still others came seeking opportunity.

 

New immigrants come for many of the same reasons. Most immigrants come escaping poverty and oppression and seeking opportunities. Leviticus 19, verses 33 and 34 tell us:

“Don’t mistreat any foreigners who live in your land. Instead, treat them as well as you treat citizens and love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”

 

We serve a God who wants justice for all of God’s people.

God desires justice for native born and foreign born alike. All people are children of God.  Amen.

 

(from The National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, “Celebrating Immigrants,” www.nicwj.org/materials/materials_celebImm.html)