On Earth as it is in Heaven

The struggle of riding in a van for hours is not fully appreciated until you are in the back of said 15 passenger van for about seven hours. While I really wanted to complain about how awful it was sitting in the back of the van, the images of children trapped in them trying to be smuggled across the border I have the privilege of crossing freely. 

I think of how blessed, privileged, to even be a citizen in this nation. But also though of how much of burden it is to carry the emotional and spiritual burden of a land that boasts of being the “land of the free” but forces under-aged minors to sleep in prisons for 72 hours before their immigration cases can even been considered. What does it mean for a nation “under God” a God who was Himself an undocumented minor when he and his teen mother and adoptive father fled the violence of a tyrant and sought asylum in Egypt. 

The story of Jesus excellently parallels the story of many immigrants who are escaping violence, they are children dragged by their parents to a forging land in search of safety. The immigrants are like Mary, teenage mother with young babies and children trying to provide a better life for their children.

  

Border fence in Eagle Pass, TX

Unlike Mary, these young girls travel across multiple borders, and face violence even as they to escape its grasp. Many bare the bruises and scratches from harsh terrain, many are scarred internally for the sexual assaults they endure along the way. All, like Mary retain their faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They pray that God will protect them and their children, they pray to the saints, to the Virgen de Guadalupe, asking that that their journey(s) lead them to a place where they can finally feel safe, finally be able to lay their head(s) down and rest unafraid. Yet when they arrive to this land of promise they are greeted in a hostile manner not only by citizens but by officials.

Iglesia Luterana San Lucas: Children's Border Art 

They are kept in redesigned prisons for 72 hours without adequate housing or food, little to no medical attention and in extremely cold rooms. These conditions are not surprises for the sojourners, rather they expect them, and they risk death to get to this place where they know they will be mistreated in order to have small chance to provide for their children. What love is greater than this?

Back Entrance to the Central Bus Station in McAllen, TX

My body may have spent all day in the back of a van, but my mind was all over the borderlands; praying for people I have never met and will never encounter. Praying for siblings in Christ who will die trying to reach my country. Praying for women and children who will be raped, with hands lifted saying “…on earth as it is in Heaven”. Praying for rapists who are also scared and seeking a better life. Praying for governments who have lost the will to rule justly. Praying for citizens who have lost the ability to have empathy. Praying for Christians who have lost the ability to see Christ in the least and lost. Praying for a Kingdom that has no borders…and has no end.

Jarell Wilson