Dear friends,
This week I was moved by people exercising the freedom to protest injustices. On Tuesday I gathered with a couple hundred people at one of the sites in downtown San Francisco where immigration courts are filled with ICE officers waiting to arrest and detain people who show up for legal asylum hearings. Regardless of what happens in the courtroom they are immediately seized and sent off for likely deportation. (This happened to a friend of mine on Monday. Miguel presented himself, paperwork in hand to the court on Monday morning, and I just learned he is in Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield.)
At our prayer vigil we prayed and sang for the detained, the disappeared and the deported, and all those affected by our unjust immigration system. This particular vigil was modeled on the Mothers of the Disappeared nearly 50 years ago in Argentina. Our vigil was led by women clergy and and laity, including mothers, wives and family members of currently detained immigrants.
I was especially proud to be part of a group of UCC Clergy. Our Conference Ministers Rev. Davena Jones and Rev. Rhina Ramos called us to action. Even when we aren’t sure what we can do, we can always pray, sing and exercise a prophetic voice, and use our bodies and our spirits to make a statement of solidarity.
Our church has committed significant financial resources so far this year to support this cause — one of our largest exercises of financial influence ever. Others are involved in accompanying people to court, or providing other kinds of assistance. I’m aware this weekend is also Labor Day, a time of worker solidarity. You might remember Joan Baez’s version of the Labor Song Bread and Roses.
Join us this Sunday in church when Rev. Thomas Crosby brings a lively word, and we light candles for an end to gun violence as seen this week at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. Please also join us on Monday in Belmont for Prayers for Peace. We are co-sponsors of this event along with the Peninsula Multifaith Coalition. Prayer is action!
Praying for peace and justice,
Pastor Jim