News from the Pews

We’re trying something new on Do Justice. We’ve been around for over 3 years now, and until now, story and series ideas have usually come from our teams at the Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue and the Office of Social Justice.

1. Tell us a little about your family's immigration story.

The journey of my life began in 1985 when I left the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I woke up one morning and my parents said: we found a husband for you and you are going to get married. I was very young. Unwillingly, we moved to Burundi where my husband served at the embassy. When I left the Congo there was great political unrest and injustices occurring. People were being shot and killed.

So much of the conversation about immigration during this election season has not been based on facts or on the biblical value of philoxenia (love of the stranger, see Romans 12:13 or Hebrews 13:2). There has been much talk about immigrants—and not enough listening to immigrants themselves. The Blessing Not Burden campaign is part of changing that. 

So much of the conversation about immigration during this election season has not been based on facts or on the biblical value of philoxenia (love of the stranger, see Romans 12:13 or Hebrews 13:2). There has been much talk about immigrants—and not enough listening to immigrants themselves. The Blessing Not Burden campaign is part of changing that. 

I love to eat food, and the food I eat is intimately connected to the lives, the environments, and the well-being of people all around the world.

When we turn on the TV or read the news online and in papers these days, we often find stories of injustices and violence in our own communities and around the world. With the brokenness around us, we long to hear more stories of hope, reconciliation, and redemption. Over the years I have read a few memorable books that have reminded me of the power of human spirit and displays of courage, compassion, strength, forgiveness, and resilience in the midst of tragedy and injustices.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Proverbs 31:8-9

There is great work going on across the country to speak up and defend the rights for those who are being trafficked and exploited. For some, speaking up has meant asking the government (both federally and provincially) to “speak up” and dedicate resources to defend the rights of exploited children, women, and men.

I have had a pair of moosehide moccasins for five years now that I absolutely love. I love them because they remind me of how I have had the way I look at the Earth and how the way I approach Creation care has been changed by my Indigenous friends and neighbours. I love my moccasins because they remind me of a wise older First Nations woman I met at an Indigenous cultural center at the beginning of my own journey of discovering what reconciled relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people look like.

I realized that for many or most of these participants this sharing circle was the first time they had the space to really tell their story or cry out for answers. 

When I was growing up, my preferred diet earned me the nickname, “Papa’s little carnivore.” Years later I married someone with a similar palate: my Iowa-bred husband loves marinated chops, smoked turkey, pork tenderloin, and Pella bologna. For him, growing up, a meal without meat was just a snack.

I didn’t have a clue how to grill a pork chop when we were first married (I still don’t), so we went through a lot of chicken and ground beef. A meal would look the same in December as it did in June, and I didn’t think twice about it.