Best Practices

Standing among the other dancers in the studio, I aligned my body in first position (heels together and toes pointed out.) Sternums lifted, lengthening through the back of our knees, we  spoke together: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” And then stretching one pointed toe to the right, lowering the heel, recentering weight between each foot, heels now shoulder-width apart in the second position of ballet, we continued: “and the second is like it.

Our call to be good stewards of God’s earth and to care for one another is under threat in many places, but none more notable than Alaska. For the first time, oil drilling will be allowed in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, located in the northern part of Alaska. This breathtaking parcel of God’s creation, home to the Gwich’in people, is unique in its wilderness qualities and ecological integrity, where natural processes remain mostly uninfluenced by people.

During a casual conversation between my daughter and I on a field watching her younger brother in a soccer lesson, she asked me what my favourite sport was. My reply was, “cycling”, and I continued, “...because that’s the only one I was allowed to and encouraged to try when I was a kid.” She, a Canadian citizen, who at the tender age of eleven has already attended a variety of sport and leisure camps, didn’t understand my response. What I meant was that I grew up in a country and culture where children weren’t valued as individuals or seen as contributing citizens.

Justice living is entrenched in values and principles founded in a Biblical worldview. Without these key elements of justice living, corrupt tendencies and exploitation of the poor take over the good intentions turned into selfish gains. Who is responsible to ensure these key elements are adhered to in the laws and systems that govern the countries? Surely no government is Christian or religious per say but the justice prone leaders can be to propel the rule of just laws in place.

As Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Heritage month came to a close, a passage from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sermon, “When Peace Becomes Obnoxious”, kept ringing in my ears:

[...] and if peace means this, I don’t want peace.

1) If peace means accepting second-class citizenship, I don’t want it.

2) If peace means keeping my mouth shut in the midst of injustice and evil, I don’t want it.

About a year and a half ago, I walked into the denominational building in Grand Rapids for my first day as the Mobilizing and Advocacy Fellow for the Office of Social Justice of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. This had been my dream opportunity since I had taken a justice course in college and had discovered that many of the readings we had been assigned were by political theologians who had been influenced by or arisen out of the Christian Reformed Church. Names like Nicholas Wolterstorff, James W. Skillen, Steve Monsma, and Albert Wolters.

An increase in migrants-especially unaccompanied minors- arriving at the border has many Americans concerned about the children’s welfare and their safe and orderly processing by immigration services. 

Today, we’ll (briefly) answer 4 major questions about what is happening at the southern border.

I sometimes find that the word refuge or phrases like seeking refuge lull us into a false sense of safety and security, especially when talking about people who are forcibly displaced from their homes and are given the label refugee. 

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

(My Favorite Things, Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rogers, 1961)

In the first article of the OSJ’s “What’s the Deal With Immigration?” series, we took a look at where we were with immigration policy in the US, discovering the ways in which our immigration system has become outdated. This piece seeks to answer where we are now, highlighting how our immigration system has become increasingly harmful in recent decades.