Christmas in the Borderland
This week’s borderland update from The Rev. Canon Lee Curtis shares some words from Deacon Clelia Pinza Garrity from The Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, one of RGBM’s first partners in our partnership program. Clelia’s full reflection can be found on our blog post. This borderland update also includes information on what RGBM is doing to support the shelter during Christmastime, especially for children, with the help of our partner Doug Winter and his organization Dormir es Poder.
Pilgrims in the Borderlands
Authored by The Rev. Clelia Pinza-Garrity, LCSW
By situating ourselves within concrete experiences, by being with the people there where they live, with caring and fraternal attitudes, as virtuous beings, we expose ourselves to the richness and to the limits of their human and social experience. We are transformed in our way of looking at the world. We are strengthened in what makes their lives and our lives meaningful. (Andrea Vicini, S. J. in Scharen and Vigen, Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics. P. 180)
Early this fall, the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast engaged in a partnership agreement with the Rio Grande Border Ministries, a program of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. The agreement aims to create ways in which pilgrims from the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast can journey to the Rio Grande Borderlands. A journey of listening and learning – of seeing and hearing – of being present with the people of the Texas, Arizona, and Mexico border communities – the Borderlands.
Most importantly, it will be a journey in which we see God Incarnate at work in and through the people who are struggling mightily to escape poverty, oppression, and fear; to find a place of safety and peace. And it will be a journey in which we develop relationships with clergy and lay leaders in Texas, Arizona, and Mexico who need our hearts, hands, and feet to assist and support them in their various borderlands ministries. Rio Grande Borderland Ministry Opportunities
As I reflect on my many years of work in Haiti and my most recent project in the desert bush of Zambia, Africa I can safely say that those of us who travel to the Rio Grande Borderlands will be transformed in our understanding of the complex immigration situation imposed on this area and the people who are struggling mightily to reach safety and peace. I am also quite certain that as Christians we will be transformed as we experience God Incarnate through the stories, the hearts and souls, and the work of those who inhabit this amazing and sacred place.
Our work will begin in earnest in early 2022. We have already had one extremely informative meeting with the U.S. Border Patrol at the El Paso bridge. We intend to schedule other Zoom meetings in January and February, with an in-person pilgrimage in the spring.
If you are interested in joining the Diocesan Borderlands group email list and perhaps volunteering when opportunities arise, please contact Deacon Clelia at garritycpg@gmail.com (561-271-2890). Learn more about being a partner with RGBM below or by contacting Nellie Fagan at admin@riograndeborderland.org
RGBM Cycle of Prayer
In late November, 27 migrants drowned attempting to cross the English Channel from
France. This year alone 47,000 attempted Channel crossings and 7,800 migrants were
rescued. Around the world, vulnerable populations are risking their lives to find a safe
place. Please pray for safety for these sojourners.
The policies at the border are ever-changing as we learned this past week with MPP
being reinstated. Most migrants at the southern border are still being turned away under
Title 42 and are being denied the opportunity to claim asylum. Let’s pray for asylum
seekers to have their legal right to claim asylum restored.
A member of our community shared this specific request with us for our Afghan
neighbors: For the children to have a safe adult at school that loves them well, no
matter the language barrier. For the adults to be accepted and valued as they integrate
into communities. For the family members who didn’t make it to the plane and had to be
left behind, and those grieving them. For help to come to families living in fear and
starving in Kabul. Our God is bigger than this overwhelming situation.
We show up and enter into people’s stories. We show up and pray. We show up and
extend welcome. As people of faith, let’s show up, even when we’re afraid.
AMEN+