Thursday, October 16, 2014

We have been constantly confronted with clashing images that unsettle and disturb our understanding of reality. Armed police boats patrolling a serene birding park, harrowing stories of children fleeing violence to journey toward a land they’ve never known, and surveillance blimps with infrared cameras that dot the skyline. Into this complicated and confusing image of reality, we have witnessed churches coming together to live out the Gospel and defend the orphan and the oppressed. 

Anzalduas Park McAllen, Texas

We spent the morning at Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen that has coordinated relief efforts with the Catholic Church to protect and care for the unaccompanied minors who have crossed the border in search of hope and life. They expressed great frustrations with how the media has approached the issue and disseminated lies into the public discourse. Yet, they also expressed a great deal of hope that has arisen from volunteering to respond to the crises and show compassion for the stranger and the alien which lie at the heart of the Biblical narrative.

In the afternoon we visited Proyecto Azteca and toured the colonias of McAllen. Proyecto Azteca is the home of a group of community organizers working in the areas of heath, education, and immigration especially focused on fighting for the rights of residents in the colonias. Ann Cass, executive director of Proyecto Azteca, spoke with passion about channeling her anger from the borderlands reality into a desire to fight in solidarity with the marginalized for dignity and respect. Ann also introduced us to the reality of the border fence that has been constructed along the US-Mexico border and the extensive environmental catastrophe it has caused.

Ms. Ann Williams Cass Executive Director of Proyecto Azteca

Identity, culture, race, and power are fused together to forge this reality of the borderlands. Coming to grips with this reality requires living into the chaos of the moment, the wilderness region where one’s expectations and assumptions are constantly challenged. Learning to embrace the chaos of the borderlands means privileging the voices of the migrants, refugees, gangs, coyotes, survivors, and exiles who illuminate the truth of the Biblical narrative with the authority of the prophets who discerned truth from the reality of exile and displacement. Only through their eyes can we learn to see the truth that is at the heart of our faith

Matthew Beach