Rev. Ann C. Fox
(508) 992-7081
minister@uufairhaven.org
Unitarian
Universalist
Society of Fairhaven
Immigrants, Ancient and Modern
a sermon by Rev. Ann C. Fox
October 12, 2008
Note: A short reading is attached, which you might like to read first
The most ancient of immigrants are Abraham and Sarah in the Book of Genesis. (Gen:12). They went to Egypt because of a famine in Canaan where they lived. Later, we see in the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors and his many brothers how Egypt offers hospitality to Joseph’s family when there is famine in their country of Canaan and other surrounding countries. Egypt is the benefactor of the hungry. (Gen: 38-41)
However, the most famous ancient emigration story of all is that one recorded in the Book of Exodus. It is the story of the Hebrews who left Egypt when they were slaves in that country. It is likely that a group of Hebrews previously took refuge in Egypt during a great famine, settled there, and sometime later the Egyptians enslaved the poorest of the foreigners when they were short of labor.
In the hymn we just sang, “When Israel Was in Egypt’s Land,” it tells of the journey through the desert (or the wilderness) where Yahweh guides the Hebrew tribe with a cloud in the sky by day and a fire (or perhaps the moon) by night. The Hebrews received their “Laws” during this time in the wilderness. And many of those laws had a strong emphasis on how to behave towards the stranger, or the immigrant. While not all of the Bible’s teachings are persuasive in modern times, its teachings about hospitality are compellingly universal and numerous. In Exodus 22, verse 21, we read, "You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." This reminds them of their time in Egypt when they were strangers. The story of the Jews could well be an archetype for any oppressed people. In another biblical book, Leviticus 19, verse 34, we read, "The alien who resides amongst you shall be to you as the citizen amongst you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God." In the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews we read, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels unawares." (Hebrews: 13:2) Even the parable of the Good Samaritan, shows us to be hospitable to travelers. There are so many teachings about being kind to strangers or aliens, even Egyptians, that one can only believe that preying upon strangers or travelers was a universal problem, and so it is today. These teachings are really applying the Golden Rule: treat strangers as you would like to be treated if you were a stranger.
All of the teachings that the Jews have to obey to be good Jews must make them very comfortable in this world because they’re so comfortable with making fun of themselves. Perhaps you’ve heard the story “
While Avram was working in the hot sun in Israel, he said to his son, working beside him, "It's hard, but we're making the desert bloom. It's a thousand times better than the persecution we suffered in Russia. We're lucky to be born in Israel."
"Lucky?" said his son, "You call this lucky?"
"Ungrateful boy!" said Avram. "Moses walked for 40 years just to get here. This is the Promised Land!"
“Did it ever occur to you," snapped his son, "that if Moses had just kept walking for a few more weeks we'd be living on the Riviera?"
The reading this morning shows 19th century immigrants who were perhaps like your own ancestors. What wasn’t told was how they were robbed and preyed upon by other immigrants who they thought they could trust. But they were also the beneficiaries of immigrants who spent their lives helping others.
This weekend marks Columbus Day. Although it is a Federal holiday, seventeen states do not have a holiday on this day, although their Federal workers probably do. Hawaii celebrates Discoverers Day that includes Captain Cook, but some Native Hawaiians protest this and have a celebration for Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
South Dakota does not have Columbus Day; instead, they will have Native American Day tomorrow. In New York State, Columbus Day is a holiday for government offices and public schools. However, the Stock Exchange on Wall Street is open. ☻ I have a smiley face by that one! (In our current circumstances, I wonder whether the Stock Exchange wishes it would be closed tomorrow.) Of course, Boston will have a BIG parade today when the Italians will outdo the Irish.
The reason that some states have chosen to put aside Columbus Day is because of the terrible abuse native peoples suffered at the hands of Columbus and his brothers. Although Columbus received warm, trusting hospitality, he repaid it with enslavement and torture. The hospitable natives had no Bible to instruct them, only their hospitable cultural teachings. Native Americans have identified with those who were oppressed and thus want to celebrate their own heritage. Who can blame them?
To come back to the biblical teachings not to oppress the alien, modern day Jews celebrate every year their liberation from Egypt in observance of Passover. That’s a powerful thing to do annually; it must surely shape their perspective on issues dealing with immigration and how we treat the stranger. I know that Jews live out their identification with the immigrant, legal or illegal, documented or undocumented, because they are major providers of food for the Guatemalans in our local area.
In my study for this sermon, I turned to the series of articles that Standard Times’ reporters Jack Spillane and Becky Evans wrote last June and July. Jack and Becky began their articles with:
“They are tired and poor and yearning for opportunity when they arrive at the doorsteps of New Bedford’s fish plants desperate for work.
They have journeyed thousands of miles from their homes in Central America to join relatives and friends who came before them and settled in the triple-decker neighborhoods of the North End and South End. Many entered this country illegally after failing to qualify for tourist or immigrant visas.
They left behind grinding poverty, high unemployment, violent crime — and parents, wives, husbands and children. They huddled in crowded buses, hid in car trunks and truck beds, slept in cold mountains, forded rushing rivers and marched through hot deserts to get to the United States.
They have come to the “otro lado,” the other side, in search of jobs that pay more than $4 per day. They have come to make enough money to feed, house and educate their impoverished children back home. They have come to see for themselves if the United States is truly a land of wealth and opportunity.
They are the new immigrants of Southeastern Massachusetts.
Over the past two decades, a wave of Central American immigrants has washed into New Bedford, bringing eager, non-English speaking workers who both enrich and complicate the local landscape.
Immigrant advocates estimate that there are 6,000 to 8,000 Central Americans living in New Bedford, as many as 70 percent illegally. Most were born in Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras.
For the past two decades, they have lived quietly in the shadows, largely invisible except for weekend soccer games and the daily commute by foot and bicycle to the city’s fish plants.”
The reporters rounded out their research by traveling to “…Guatemala’s Quiche (K'iche') region — home to most of New Bedford’s 3,000 to 5,000 Guatemalan immigrants — which allowed [them] to witness firsthand what drives so many migrants to the United States and how wages they send home are affecting that country.” If you talk to these reporters, you will find that they gush with their deep down experience of a wonderfully warm people utterly committed to the welfare of their families. They have helped us to put a human face on the immigration situation in the U.S.
When I told Leo, my husband, I was doing a sermon on immigrants, he said, “Oh, it’s about us.” For those of you who don’t know, Leo is from Holland (via New Zealand since that is where he first emigrated). And I am from the U.K. The Standard Times says that “Some Americans are fond of talking about how today's immigrants should come "legally," the way their parents or grandparents did. The fact is, however, that if their forefathers and mothers came to the United States before 1921 — as many did — there were virtually no restrictions on immigration from Europe or the Americas. Before the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, nearly any European or Western Hemisphere immigrant who wanted to come to America was able to do so within the law. Unrestricted immigration was the environment in which New Bedford's largest immigrant group — the Portuguese — first came to America.” (From a Standard Times article.) Except for Native Americans, we are all immigrants or children of immigrants, aren’t we?
The challenge for us all is to hearken back to those biblical teachings of Leviticus 19:13, “The alien who resides among you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself…” This is a universal teaching, not just for ancient Jews, but for all people in all times.
The only thing I’ve agreed with President Bush about is his push to have a Guest Worker program that can lead to citizenship. It is unlikely we will hear any of the current presidential candidates talk about this because it is too controversial a topic at this time when people are feeling so financially vulnerable.
The next president will have to deal with this situation for it is estimated that there are 13 million undocumented workers in our country and in the long run, we will all benefit from their legal status. And I hope that that the next president will not bow to public opinion for the situation comes under civil and human rights. Five of our seven principles call us to be “just” in this matter. And loving our neighbors, whether legal or not, must be the foundation of our moral compass.
“Because of those who came before, we
are….Because of, and in spite of the horizons of their vision, we, too,
dream. May we find a just way to include the ‘stranger’ in our land.”
–by Barbara Pescan (adapted)
References
Fast, Howard. The Immigrants, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. (A fascinating novel and a fast read.)
Articles in the Standard Times by Jack Spillane: "A few reflections on the immigrant project," July 7, 2008; "Talk is tough, but illegal immigrants aren't going anywhere," Dec. 6, 2007; "Time for city to have a family talk about immigrant issue," Dec. 3, 2007; and Becky Evans "Guatemala - Your link to SouthCoast ... " June 29, 2008.
The Immigrants by Howard Fast
The immigrants were without any deep consciousness of the role they were playing. They did not dream of history or see themselves as part of history. They partook of a mythology of the place to which they were going, but of the fact of the place they knew little indeed. Misery absorbed them. Nausea absorbed them. The agony of their stomachs absorbed them. In the pitching, shifting, fetid cabin occupied by eight human beings, four of them adult, four of them children, measuring eight feet by eight feet, stinking of a mixture of body odor and vomit, unventilated, they were absorbed by the various degrees of their misery—and this misery appeared to them to go on for an eternity….[Anna Lavette, seven months pregnant thought that she would surely die.] They had been at sea for sixteen days…..She did not die, and a day came when the pitching and lurching of the ship ended….[and] she saw the sun and the sky and the smooth water of New York Harbor….Everyone was on deck….The great lady of hope welcomed them, and this they had been waiting to see. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free….”
[Later,] on Ellis Island, a ragged rock, jutting out of the harbor, covered with buildings that were stuffed with people, Lady Liberty was laughing at them. (pp. 3-5)
© The Rev. Ann C. Fox