On Being Homeward Bound: Part 5
Monday, Dec. 18, 2006, will be International Migrant Day - a day to remember and act on behalf of all who have journeyed from their home nations seeking a decent living for their families, seeking education and opportunity for the children, seeking an end to oppression and impoverishment. Dec. 18 will be a day to notice and appreciate migrant workers in our midst: to be thankful for those who pick and prepare our food, those who care for our children, those who bring talents and life-giving traditions from their countries to ours.
In preparation for International Migrant Day, Women's Division executive Glory E. Dharmaraj, Ph.D., has prepared a series of meditations entitled, "On Being Homeward Bound." You are encouraged to read one each day from Monday, Dec. 11 through Saturday, Dec. 16. Throughout the week, begin to think how you will mark International Migrant Day. Sunday, Dec. 17, review all the meditations, reading them as a whole. Offer your plan to God in prayer. Monday, Dec. 18, act.
No Place to Lay His Head
by GLORY E. DHARMARAJ, Ph.D.*
And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
• Matthew 8:20
In this passage from the Gospel of Matthew is the sacred memory of Jesus, the One who did not have a place to lay his head. God in Jesus is not someone who sends long-distance regards from heaven. God lives through the agony of dislocation and aspiration of the migrant community.
God restoring God's children to wholeness and home is an enduring theme in the Bible. God calls out to all of us to live life as though we are all pilgrims and migrants.
In this season of anticipation and family gathering, may we put on the perspective of Jesus, the dislocated One. Like Jesus, let us take time to see the world through the eyes of migrants. May we gain the sight to see migrants among us and the blessings of migrant labor that comes to our tables in the form of bread, greens, tomatoes and lettuce.
Elie Wiesel, in his book, Sanctuary, says:
"My place is measured by yours. In other words, my place under the sun, or in the face of God, or in my own memory, is measured by the distance it has from you….We are here because of one another."
Let us pray:
Our God, who calls us to live as pilgrims, help us understand "we are here because of one another." As we seek places to lay our heads, make us mindful of all who have no place, of all who are migrants without homes. Amen.
