From the PICO National Network (http://www.piconetwork.org):
Most nights, 5-year-old Javier Jr. sleeps away from home with his father in a basement at Arch Street United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, because he just wants to be near his dad. Javier Sr. was given sanctuary by Rev. Robin Hynicka’s congregation last November to avoid being separated from his two sons and adopted daughter by deportation before his visa application was reviewed.
This morning, PICO National Network, United We Dream, and Church World Service declared together on a media conference call that faith communities in America are taking a prophetic stance against President-elect Trump’s promised persecution of immigrants, Muslims and people of color by providing Sanctuary in more than 800 congregations. And this is just the beginning.
Join the team today: Dial “SANCTUARY” to 228466 to be alerted to both national and local opportunities to stand with our vulnerable sisters and brothers this year and forever. After all, no one should stand alone.
For Arch Street UMC, it was never a question of if they would provide sanctuary to Javier, only of how they would go about creating a home for him. Across the country, PICO federations and congregations are answering this same question.
In California, clergy and congregations with Faith in the Valley are making plans to provide safe haven to their Muslim sisters and brothers. Organizers and clergy with Faith in New York are figuring out how to protect Black and Brown leaders who are being unjustly targeted by police.
Now is the time for us to create empathetic space for uncommon encounters across difference, building bridges and disrupting patterns of isolation and fear in our communities. This is a moment for multi-racial, multi-faith communities to reimagine the Beloved Community, taking bold and prophetic action to realize it.
Dial “SANCTUARY” to 228466 today to stand with us as we prepare to speak truth to power and stop the separation of families this year.
When asked how he has been changed by Javier’s presence in their community, Rev. Hynicka speaks of being impacted by the love Javier shows for his family, taking great risks to keep them together. And he shares about the “divine blessing of difference” that his own multi-race, multi-faith family experiences with his daughter, his son in law who is an Egyptian immigrant, and his grandson. Saying that, “Every family has the moral right to be together.”
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