Ecumenical & Interfaith

Two weeks ago, refugees who were prepared to enter the U.S. received devastating news. After waiting for years and in some cases decades, they found out they were not allowed to enter the country because the U.S. refugee resettlement system was put on pause. There are 21.3 million refugees in the world. Fifty percent of them are children. Less than one percent of all refugees will ever be permanently resettled to a new country.

I am a dual citizen. I and others from my faith tradition hold dual citizenship.

I am a citizen of the United States of America and I am a citizen of what my Reformed-Presbyterian branch of Christianity calls “The Kingdom of God.” I was born and baptized as a child into that community of faith and it is my primary and deepest citizenship. My identity.

The sky was full of helicopters and reporters waiting to tell a story.

After the Dec. 2, 2015 attack on San Bernardino, a lot was communicated. One of the prominent themes was about Muslims in America. It was the talk in our town as the radical extremists who carried out the attacks were residents of my city (Redlands, CA), a town neighboring San Bernardino.

14 people were killed and over 20 injured on that awful day. It was chaotic.

Wukari is a partially destroyed city. It is a city at war with itself.

Wukari is the capital of the Jukun kingdom in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region. Its residents are Christian, Muslim, and Traditionalist. The majority are Christian, members of the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria because of over a hundred years of South African and CRC evangelism, education, and health care missions. The long-serving traditional ruler is also Christian.

Freedom of religion is important to Canadians and Americans and is guaranteed by the Constitutions of both countries.  No one can be prohibited from worshipping as they wish. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that right for Canadians. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution ensures religious freedom for people who live in the U.S.

In response to the San Bernardino shooting and increasingly hostile anti-Arab and anti-Muslim rhetoric, the Office of Race Relations and Office of Social Justice have collaborated on this litany and prayer. The litany is drawn from the Christian Reformed Church’s three confessions, the Contemporary Testimony (Our World Belongs to God), and one Ecumenical Faith Declaration (Belhar Confession).

Litany

People of God, from where does your hope come this day?