Framing the channel down which we would pass, the Statue of
Liberty held her beacon of light high on the left, while the Freedom Tower
soared to the heights on the right. The skies were alive in a swirling mass of
greys as dawn broke. I thought of the invitation on the Statue: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to
breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the
homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’
Here we were at the ‘golden door’, dawn
breaking, our passports in order, visa secured, destination in sight, a place
to go to and a daughter to see. We were not tired nor were we poor; we breathe
free in our remote rural location in Scotland; we are not ‘wretched refuse,
homeless, tempest-tossed’. And so we were welcomed in.
Had we been homeless, tempest-tossed
refugees, the Statue of Liberty and the Freedom Tower would have initiated
apprehension and fear. When my forefathers arrived on these shores, they were
only afraid of rejection on health grounds. No TB and you were in to make your
new life. Now? The confusing tangle of rules and regs and the
fortress-mentality of the current administration, a mentality built on fear,
disqualifies many if not most of the homeless, tempest-tossed refugees who cry
for liberty and freedom.
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has
anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the
oppressed free.” Jesus claimed these words from the ancient prophet Isaiah, and
in him, and in him only, is there true freedom for all, vision and release from
oppression.
Jesus is the light of the world, and his beacon of light
still shines in the increasing darkness, inviting all who are tired and weary,
hurting and broken-hearted, to shelter and thrive in him.
No comments:
Post a Comment