Resources to Learn, Opportunities to Engage, and This Week's Borderland Update
The Rev. Canon Lee Curtis
Canon to the Ordinary, Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande
This week’s borderland update from The Rev. Canon Lee Curtis highlights the work our Bridge Chaplain Ana Reza is doing to support our migrant neighbors that are crossing through the port of entry in El Paso and the relationships The Rev. Mike Wallens is continuing to build to support unaccompanied minors in the Big Bend region of our borderland. He also shares some of the ways our partner congregations in and outside of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande have been supporting Rio Grande Borderland Ministries to ensure we can keep up with this work.
Looking to get engaged with Rio Grande Borderland Ministries as a volunteer? Contact our Bridge Chaplain Ana Reza (areza@dioceserg.org) to learn more!
We are excited to announce that we have a new giving platform! To make a gift in support of the work of RGBM, click the button below.
RGBM Resource Center
Resources to Learn:
U.S. Formally Ends Trump’s ‘Remain In Mexico’ Asylum Policy, Ted Hesson (2021). Reuters. Available at https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-formally-ends-trumps-remain-mexico-asylum-policy-2021-06-01/
Defund Hate: Beyond the Enforcement Paradigm, United We Dream (2021). United We Dream. Available at https://unitedwedream.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Beyond-the-Enforcement-Paradigm_Defund-Hate_2021.pdf
Root Causes of US Migration: A Policy Framework, Hope Border Institute (2021). Hope Border Institute. Available at https://www.hopeborder.org/root-causes-framework
Opportunities to Engage:
What’s Really Happening at Our Southern Border?, Accompaniment and Sanctuary Coalition Colorado Springs; Sunday, June 13, 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm MST (2021). Available at Accompaniment and Sanctuary Coalition Colorado Springs - ASC COS Facebook
SAVE THE DATE: 2021 Border & Migration Ministry Summit, Episcopal Diocese of West Texas (2021). Episcopal Diocese of West Texas. Available at https://episcopalmigrationministries.org/bordersummit/
RGBM Cycle of Prayer
Earlier in the year, we prayed for migrant women held in U.S. detention facilities who reported being subjected to medical procedures against their will, including hysterectomies. We offer prayers of thanksgiving for the Biden administration who announced it would stop using immigration detention facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia that are the subject of abuse allegations. Please pray for any inhumane conditions in detention centers to cease and for any victims of abuse to experience the healing and peace that comes from the Lord.
We pray for:
Lawyers working to reach the migrant families separated by the previous administration have found the parents of 54 more children, according to a court filing on Wednesday. We praise God for these reunifications and ask you to pray for the parents of 391 children who have yet to be reached.
We ask God to guide mothers even today who are making hard decisions about the futures of their families in unsafe places. Lord, protect these families and surround them with your love. Move the hearts of people to be the welcome of Christ to them wherever they are.
"Lord, help us to be more like you." As the hearts of people are moved to compassion for the vulnerable immigrant and refugee, we ask that God would speak to our hearts and show us what he is moving us into. We pray that individuals and churches would step into these spaces and enter these hard conversations and be moved into action.
“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,” says Leviticus 19:34. We believe God calls us to a deep love for the vulnerable, the marginalized, and the forgotten. Let’s not take this calling for granted.
Where would you be without the welcome of Christ? Take some time to thank God for what Christ's mercy and welcome has done for you.
Lord,
Protect all who come to our borders
in search of a better future for their families.
Touch the hearts of our leaders
that families may be reunited and
justice may be tempered with mercy.
Heal the pain of those who undergo separation
and keep the children safe from all harm.
Show us how to be generous and
to make room for others in this land,
for we are all your sons and daughters.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
AMEN+