When my family moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, we purchased the only house that was available in our price range. After moving in, we learned that in the house to our left lived a neighbor from Chile (I’m from Argentina) and to our right one from the Philippines (my wife and I were both born in Taiwan). Unbeknownst to us, we moved into a neighborhood with people very much like us. The point of the parable of the Good Samaritan is that the neighbor was not like my neighbors. The neighbor was the one who was compassionate towards someone very different from them. The central dispute between the Samaritans and Jews was the proper location to worship. While insignificant for us today, it had eternal consequences for them. Yet the Samaritan in the parable was able to see beyond their theological differences and care for a fellow human being. Today, our neighbors do not live in our neighborhoods because America is a segregated nation — not just racially, but also … [Read more...]

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13 Millions of stories of internally displaced persons (IDP), refugees and immigrants from around the globe will never be told or heard. Many of their stories will go to the grave with them. Even when they are told, who is listening? Too many IDPs who remain in their homeland are forced to find refuge in insecure buildings, where they are neither safe or warm. They suffer hunger and cold. Some are forced to turn to survival sex or to begging in the streets. In an attempt to flee, smugglers deplete them of any funds with which to start a new life in a new place and IDPs become victims of human trafficking. It’s not just Syria that is bleeding its own. South Sudan and Afghanistan, along with Syria, account for over half of all IDPs and refugees. Closer to home, children remain in … [Read more...]

I was working with a refugee ministry in Europe when I moved back to the U.S. to attend a Presbyterian seminary. Then the day after I graduated, I boarded a plane to work in northern Albania, and was there during the time of the war in neighboring Kosovo that led to the Kosovar refugee crisis. In many ways, these felt like vastly different worlds. In northern Albania, I had a large knife pulled on me while walking down the street, had to sprint a few blocks home from a restaurant after gunshots rang nearby and was instructed not to wear seatbelts so I could more easily get out of our truck if someone jumped in front of it with a Kalashnikov. These dangers were, well, never part of walking across Princeton Seminary’s campus or studying in the library (though intramural basketball could get a little rough). In many ways, the realities couldn’t be farther apart. Yet I also know these different worlds were absolutely, intimately related. Our theology guides how we engage in the … [Read more...]