Seminar on immigration: A poetic response

On February 6-8, 2018, a group of 28 commissioned members (Elders and Deacons) of the New York Annual Conference (COMPASS) participated in a two-day seminar on immigration hosted by Church and Society.

They heard from experts on the issue, met with members of Congress and concluded the seminar with an artistic reflection led by R. Kayeen Thomas. Here are a few of the poems written by the participants in response to their seminar experience.

If you are interested in bringing a group to DC for a seminar, please contact Aimee Hong, director of the United Methodist Seminar Program or visit our webpage.

Rev. Susan Chupungco, Provision Elder, NYAC (Goshen and Sugar Loaf UMC)

Women - women built this space - a place - made by those who were marginalized to care for those who are marginalized - Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer! 

This is a place, not built of stone and mortar, but built of prayer - of justice - of hope - of education - of organizing - of grieving over setbacks and celebrating progress - a place where we strive to build the Kin-dom of God here on earth as we know it to be in heaven - Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer!

3281, 3284, 3164, 3379 - the numbers of resolutions that push us forward - toward revolutions of love of welcome of hospitality of justice.  Words on paper that express our dreams and our desires for the people - nay - the children of God - Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer!

Welcome - come in - you are safe here - but only for a while  - we can’t really let you become - one of us - your status as part of the body is only temporary - we may have to send you back - back from where you came - back to pain, to war, to poverty, to devastation. Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer!

Speaking of temporary - we deferred action for early childhood arrivals - we gave you hope, we promised to make a way - but the door is quickly closing.  As we saw it slammed shut - we saw the dreamers, the hopeful, the ones who refuse to go quietly and without a fight - run toward the door - to knock, to bang, to kick it down by whatever means possible.  In their cries we hear them say, “You will not shatter our dreams.”  Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer!

Know your rights they say - don’t open the door not even a crack or the devil will get in - maybe not the devil - but an ICE agent with a fake warrant who is there - not for your soul - but for the life you have worked to build - for yourself, for your children, for your children’s children.  Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer!

Detention - is a thing for misbehaving children after school - but not these days - it is a place where men, women, and children are whisked away - hidden in secret facilities, in undisclosed locations, where no one knows just how long they will be there, or just what is happening in there, even though it might be - right in our own backyards.  Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer!

Repent - and believe the good news - we are called to bring the good news - pastor and deacon alike - to bring darkness into the light - to organize and catalyze, not just a movement in which we pray with our eyes closed on bended knee - but one in which we pray in the halls of congress, where we pray with pen to paper writing letters and petitions, where we pray with feet on the sidewalk marching for justice, where we pray with our very lives - we will go where you lead us - even to the cross - to keep our brothers and sisters from the cross.  Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer!

Rev. Elizabeth Abel, Provisional Elder, NYAC (Woodycrest UMC)

A Letter to my Daughter

Live your life and do everything you can to bring someone along with you. Your life is a gift, a gift to me and a gift to this world and this earth. Your very breath gives life to others - like the trees and the flowers- be mindful of what you ingest because what you exhale gives life. 

Raise your voice. There are so many who lose their voice, have no rights, no privileges no opportunities to share their story, or even their breath. Be that voice for them. 

Be informed. Learn all you can - listen to other’s voices, hear their stories, listen to even their tears if that is all they have left. And don’t keep it to yourself, share with everyone you meet every chance you get. 

Feel the expression of their lives because remember your life is a gift.   Dance to the beat. Dance to the rhythm of your heart. Let it beat inspire you to get in tune and more on harmony - find the music in the discord so the beat, the rhythm does not get lost. Allow your heart beat to be the baseline and then begin a line dance that will unify. Music is our soul - the baseline speaks to all and has a way to bring people together. 

They will follow you if you lead them. Remember your life is a gift.  Share with others especially those who do not have.  Breath, smile, sing, dance…love. 

Rev. Mark Allen, Provisional Elder NYAC (Reservoir UMC and Phoenicia UMC)

I am filled with concern for
those with no voice,
those with no representation,
and those who are treated as throwaways.

I am filled with frustration over
childish behavior,
racist rhetoric,
and closed minds.

I am filled with frustration because of 
partisan politics,
party lines,
and because the process itself resists the change that is needed.

I am filled with appreciation for
people with principles
people of compassion,
for people who work for change within the system in spite of their frustration,
and for those who persevere.

Rev. Marcia White-Smith, Provisional Deacon, NYAC (New Rochelle UMC and NYC Department of Education)

On the hill the emotions run high,
as yet again the oppressors feel obliged to turn a blind eye.
To the rampart hatred and systemic evils
which result in the intentional leaving behind of brothers and sisters of fathers and mothers
My heart is burdened and my soul cries out.
How much more can we stray from your way O Lord?

Surveying the wondrous gilded cross
and marbled pillars brightly displayed,
wondering how and where do they intersect
in the country which proclaims
In God We Trust,
but actually acts as though men are god…

Resolutions and reconciliation are needed now
for peaceful and just existence, for all of creation.
Strength and resistance to the building of walls, we pray.
In God we trust,
In Christ we trust,
We trust in God.

Rev. Carol Bloom, Provisional Elder, NYAC (Diamond Hill UMC – CT)

Do you dream?
What do you dream?
Do you dream of happy, healthy children? Of safe spaces to live and work?
Of access to health care?
Of a better life for your children? Are your dreams mixed with fear?
Not just a mild, nagging worry but truly terrifying fear. Fear that you will be separated from your family.
Fear that if you get sick, you don’t dare seek health care.
Fear that you might have to live your whole life in the shadows.
Fear that if you go outside, you might just disappear into the night and be seen no more.
Yesterday, so many fears ran past my window.
Yesterday, so many dreams ran past my window. Yesterday, tears were shed for all the fears and dreams. Today, what will we do with all those fears and dreams?

Will we pray? God of mercy, will you let them know you hear? Will we act? Will we let them know we care?

Rev. Carole Paynter, Provisional Elder, NYAC (Smithtown UMC)

Does Grace have a place in Washington DC?

I want to know- Does Grace have a place in Washington DC?
Where laws sometimes seek punishment but not justice?
Where our wrongs are piled up like boulders used to build walls in memory?
Walls that keep us from exploring new paths of freedom waiting for us.

Grace cries out “leave the past in the past!
You can’t move forward while looking back.“

Dreamers, seekers & lifers need to come together to make all better.

Grace says let’s make a new way where everyone can travel together & share in God’s good creation.

Rev. Melissa Hinnen, Provisional Elder, NYAC (Asbury UMC)

Dreams. Heartbeats. Truth.
We arrive in this time and this place with
the hopes and the dreams,
the lives and the heartbeats,
the stories and the truth
of the communities we serve
each one made in God’s image.

We join the voices of dreamers and all
who are vulnerable to an unjust system.

We amplify
the hopes and the dreams,
the lives and the heartbeats,
the stories and the truth of
beloved neighbors, friends, and families
made in God’s image who are living in fear.

United we stand to resist power dynamics that
threaten to devastate all that is good.

We arrive in this time and this place with
hopes and dreams,
lives and heartbeats,
stories and truth
image bearers who are
guided by a higher power.

We join with the Spirit of Divine Justice
that is bigger and stronger than any legislation.

We amplify
the hopes and the dreams,
the lives and the heartbeats,
the stories and truth
of the prophets who came before us.

United we stand to proclaim the Good News of Christ
that interrupts injustice and fear, rhetoric and politics.

Offering a glimpse of
God’s dream,
God’s heartbeat,
God’s truth,
God’s realm.
On earth as it is in heaven.