Prayer and Action for Asylum Seekers!
January 24, 2020
Disciples RIM and Disciples Justice for Children invite you to Join the National #Faith4Asylum Day of Prayer and Action Beginning January 29,2020!
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- “Kids Crossing” image, center above, by Paula Wendland depicts 2 unaccompanied migrant children—a brother and his younger sister, on their perilous journey north.
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- Foothill Community Church in Glendale, AZ praying “Laces and Faces” prayers
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- The symbol of the shoelace representing the “unintended” vulnerability to which their absence subjects asylum seekers.
On the occasion of the One Year Anniversary of the implementation of our government’s “Migrant Protection Protocols”/MPP (sometimes called “Remain in Mexico”) which are making it extremely difficult and very dangerous for migrants to seek protections through the international right of asylum, we faith leaders and organizations affiliated with the Interfaith Immigration Coalition invite you to join us January 29 in witnessing our #Faith4Asylum in a day of prayer vigils and action in your community of faith and at home in your families. On January 29, vigils will also be taking place on both sides of the US border and on Capitol Hill.
Below and at the faith4asylum.com you can find resources for taking action, for hosting a vigil in your congregation or community, and for offering special muti-sensory “Shoelaces and Faces” prayers in regular worship, and educating and praying with your family using the “Faces and Laces” Family Friendly Education and Action Resource created by Rev. Sharon Stanley-Rea and Rev. Kate Epperly (see below)
Why “Shoelaces and Faces” prayers? When asylum seekers are apprehended, their shoelaces are removed; and when they are returned to Mexico to await asylum consideration in tent cities which currently house some 54,000 persons (including 16,000 children and 500 babies), their lack of shoelaces then identifies them as vulnerable. They are then made and made victims of human trafficking, cartel violence and extortion at alarming rates.
What can we do to make a difference?
- ATTEND the #Faith4Asylum VIGIL ON CAPITOL HILL, 11 a.m. Wednesday, January 29. (Contact sstanley@dhm.diciples.org for details).
- SIGN UP TO HOST OR ATTEND A PRAYER VIGIL in your own community using resources provided at Faith4Asylum.com!
- SIGN ON AS A CONGREGATION AND/OR AS AN INDIVIDUAL at Faith4Asylum.com to show your support to protect asylum seekers.
- LIFT UP IMAGERY OF SHOELACES (as requested by border shelters) to raise awareness of dangers faced by asylum seekers. Join 56 shoelaces to represent the 56,000 migrants returned in the first year of “Remain in Mexico” policies. (See how Foothills Community Church in AZ. did this in their sanctuary recently—at right!) Or, tie together 7 laces to represent the 7 U.S. southern border sectors where migrants are being returned.
Image from: https://www.lawg.org/updated-infographic-remain-in-mexico-impacts/ by Latin American Working Group
#Faith4Asylum is a project of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC). The January 29 prayer vigils are just the first in an ongoing series of actions that will seek to #SaveAsylum.
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34)
