Here's How You Can Help Minors at the Border

Our baptismal call is to stand up for human rights and dignity for all.

As news reports continue to uncover the inhumane conditions migrant children are facing in U.S. detention facilities, the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields shares in the national outrage and dismay at federal immigration policy. Many parishioners have asked what we can do to respond to an issue that has local, state, and federal implications.


Here are some ways to keep the call for justice for migrants and refugees before us in the coming weeks, and to commit to the ongoing work of securing their dignity and protection.

Learn and Advocate.

The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations provides several information guides and action alerts on migrant issues on its Migration, Immigrants, and Refugees page, including its most recent, “Ten Things you can do to Accompany Undocumented Immigrants.” You can also send advocacy emails directly from the site.

Information and resources can also be found on the site of Episcopal Migration Ministries.

Raise Your Voice.

Share your concerns about the mistreatment of migrants in federal detention with your elected local, state, and federal officials. Because ICE raids and detention facilities are implemented on every level, from local to federal, we can ask our officials on every level where they stand and what they plan to do.

Commoncause.org provides a search engine to help locate all your officials from local to federal.

Gather and Strengthen.

We cannot do this work alone. Plan to attend the local Lights for Liberty Vigil to End Human Detention Camps at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 12 at Lovett Park in Mt. Airy, 6945 Germantown Ave. The nation-wide vigil will bring thousands of Americans to detention camps across the country, into the streets, and into their own front yards, to protest the inhumane conditions faced by refugees. More information can be found on the local event’s Facebook Page.
You can also share the resources you have discovered - from places to donate or to organize your own response with fellow parishioners - on our Facebook page.

Pray.

Both in your private prayer and in communal worship, bring the needs of our undocumented sisters and brothers before God, and pray too for the ongoing ability to take action for their dignity and safety.

Listen to Rev. Anne Thatcher’s moving June 23 sermon on how the Gospel calls us to respond.

What do I need to be free?

How do we get free from the pain we carry from injuries inflicted on us by people close to us? This painful and pressing question comes up frequently when I am providing pastoral care. Emotional, spiritual, and moral injuries cry out. They will not remain still. They beg to be addressed.

In the face of the painful insistence of these injuries we often provide false answers to ourselves in an attempt to get free. The instinct is correct. We want to get free of the pain. False answers, however, increase the pain and leave us with a diminished life. Examples include blaming ourselves, taking too much responsibility, pretending it was not so bad, excusing the abuser, and so on.

What we really need - what our emotional pain is calling out for - is a reckoning and an apology from the person who harmed us. Eve Ensler makes this observation in her amazing new book, The Apology. Ensler is a playwright, author, humanitarian, and a survivor of vicious childhood abuse by her father. Using her creative gifts she conjures up her dead father as the narrator of the book and uses her imagination to lead him into the reckoning and apology he owes her.

Ensler starts with the question, “What do I need to be free?” From that starting point she discovered her process. An apology from her abuser would need to have the following characteristics to aide her healing:

First, her father would need to be humble and approach her as an equal and not from above. Second, her father would need to be vulnerable, emotionally available to understanding the harm done, and ready to hear what he has done. Third, her father would need to be empathetic, ready to understand and feel the sadistic harm he inflicted from the perspective of his daughter, and what she experienced at the time. Fourth, the father would need to forsake the self-excusing amnesia of the victimizer and be ready to reconstruct the hidden, shameful history for what it is, listening to the voice of the victim especially. Fifth, her father would need to be accountable, willing to take responsibility for harm done and, most importantly, willing to become reflective enough to begin his own healing journey into his own personal damage.

The good news is that the author was able to walk this path to freedom in a conversation with a father who has been dead for many years. In her imagination she was able to dream a new reality that crossed boundaries and opened up new possibilities for empathy and healing. I would call this a form of therapeutic prayer.

We can be set free from harms that oppress us. I highly recommend this book as an aide and guide to your healing. I will plan to offer a Reading with the Rector during 2019 - 2020 on this book.

Blessings,
The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Rector

Looking Forward to Visiting Guatemala, part 2

Ava Moseley

Editor's Note: The Rector's Note this week has once again been turned over to another of the seven youth and young adults heading on pilgrimage to Guatemala in July. 

I am looking forward to going on the pilgrimage to Guatemala this summer mainly because I don’t know exactly what to expect. I cannot predict everything that will happen, and so the excitement of the trip is traveling into an unknown culture, a life-style so different than mine, that I'll be immersed in for two weeks. This is an amazing opportunity because not only will I be learning about the history and culture of Guatemala, but by traveling there and meeting new people in Guatemala, I will learn firsthand from their daily lives. I am also looking forward to strengthening my friendships with the other kids going on this trip. By experiencing this trip together, I believe we will grow as individuals and a community. [Rev.] Jarrett has devoted so much time to our youth group, teaching us what we can accomplish together, and helping our growth overall. With his guidance, I know we will go on this journey with open minds and hearts to strengthen our values for ourselves and others. And I have no doubt that this trip will create lasting friendships and memories for life.

Blessings,
Ava Moseley

PLEASE NOTE THE UPDATED DATE AND TIME OF THE Beach Vacation Party and Auction fundraiser, this SUNDAY, June 16, immediately following worship. Bidding on the silent auction items will end at 12:15 p.m. Be sure to support the summer youth pilgrimage to Guatemala by attending and bidding on items.

Looking Forward to Visiting Guatemala

Clare Robinson

Editor's Note: This week the Rector's Note has been turned over to one of the seven youth and young adults heading on pilgrimage to Guatemala in July. 


I have been looking forward to going on this trip for years. From wandering around the craft sale to seeing the pictures of the rich culture and wonderful people, I have wanted to be a part of this experience. I am excited about the gorgeous places we will go, from the small mountain villages to the scenic van drives. Growing and developing relationships with the other students I am traveling with is something that I am really looking forward to; this trip will bring us together in a very unique way. 

The aspect of this trip that I value the most is that it truly is an experience, it allows for relationships to be built, people to meet, and most importantly for us to learn. It matters a lot to me that this trip was designed for us Americans to learn about the culture, to fully immerse ourselves and learn from the people we meet. It is not a time for us to bring our ideas, societal norms, or perceptions to them, but rather a time to learn and help where we can with an emphasis on respect and valuing everyone. I hope to bring back to St. Martin's community and my own life a better understanding of the rest of the world, specifically the importance of the church in different places.

Blessings,
Clare Robinson

Update 6.13.19:
DATE CHANGE: Sunday, June 16 following 10:30 a.m. Bluegrass Mass worship

Due to poor ticket sales we are moving the Guatemala Youth Trip Fundraiser to after church on Sunday. Folks can bid after each service and we will have delicious homemade pulled pork BBQ after the Bluegrass Mass at 10:30. Come support our high school youth! The auction will close at 12:15 p.m.