How we respond to people who are most in need demonstrates our beliefs more than any statement of faith. On this week when we enter anew into the passion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, I can't help but reflect on these sacred mysteries in the light of having sojourned this Lent with refugees and those working with them. The Episcopal Migration Ministries Pilgrimage to Kenya and Rwanda brought our group face to face with some of the worst of man's inhumanity to man. We met those who suffered in the Congolese War, spent time learning about the Rwandan Genocide, and encountered the victims of gender-based violence finding anew their dignity with the help of others.

First, I want to acknowledge briefly the very problem of discussing "refugees" as the term, while helpful, creates an unecessary distance. The term "refugee" is an important political word which seeks to assist persons who "owing to wellfounded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion...." Refugee is a useful political term, but not a theological one. For Christians working in migration ministries, we must push past this identifier to something more essential.

This is certainly seen in the Hebrew scriptures as applying specifically to those forced out of their homeland. "You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt," (Exodus 22.21) and "You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt," (Exodus 23.9) are but two of many examples.

The second chapter of Matthew's Gospel tells of the Flight into Egypt in which Jesus' earthly parents fled persecution by King Herod. Jesus earliest memories would have been of living as a refugee and in a synagogue in Egypt where he would have heard the words of the Torah concerning treatments of aliens.

There is no denying that issues of migration are politically thorny. Working with refugees identified by the United Nations and U.S. State Department is more straightforward, but also involves a tangle of issues. Yet for those of us of faith, we can not simply consider these political realities with no reference to our theology which reminds us of our common identity binding us to all other humans.

This Holy Week, the agape love we encounter in the story of Christ's passion, death, and resurrection also points to the need to show that same love to persons suffering persecution. Through thirty affiliates across the country, Episcopal Migration Ministries makes the love of God real each year for more than 5,000 persons resettling in the United States. This is, of course, purely to serve others and without proselytizing or other motives other than assisting people in need, especially in there first months in this country. Through this ministry, the Episcopal Church practices what we preach about seeking and serving Christ in all persons and respecting the dignity of all. On average, our churchwide efforts help 100 persons a week begin a new life. While not every Episcopalian need support this great work of our church personally, we can still appreciate this ministry as an important part of what we do together that none of us could accomplish on our own.

The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary

All photos above are from our visit to Gihembe Refugee Camp in Rwanda and are by Wendy Karr Johnson.