Mother of Exiles
THE INVITATION:
We invite you to gather with friends and people you trust. Spend some time together to help each other make it through life. Be courageous in sharing, compassionate in responding, and creative in your resilience together for the good of all.
CHECK IN:
How is going?
How can we help?
Who else do we need to think and pray about today?
CONSIDER THIS:
The Beloved Community that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about is made more robust by people of different cultures living together and supporting each other. Immigration, intentional community living and other practices are part of that. And some of our most recognizable iconography in the United States, like the Statue of Liberty, connects our quest for freedom with the call to connect with others. Check out the song “Mother of Exiles” from Carl Thomas Gladstone, and listen for language that encourages you in living out beloved community.
DISCUSS:
Who is someone from another culture that has blessed your life?
What language have you recognized in the world that reveals fear and prejudice around immigrants and folks “not like us?”
In Leviticus 19 we are reminded that God wants strangers in our land to be treated as citizens. What practices could a neighborhood, church or other organization do to welcome strangers as citizens even when the government won’t?
What is the one best thing about being in your country? How could you share that with persons who don’t have access to that thing yet?
SENDING:
Be sure to be practicing community weekly with your friends and family. Find in-person and online gatherings here and create your own by getting together and talking through these Discussion Guides.
