On Christmas Eve, before eating the roast beast, my family reads the Nativity story found in Luke. Verses 1-2: “At that time Emporer Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Roman Empire. When the first census took place, Quirinius was the governor of Syria.” Matthew 2 explains King Herod felt threatened that his political power could be undermined by the birth of Christ who was prophesied to become king of the Jews. In a dream (v13), God told Joseph to leave Syria and “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.” King Herod ordered his troops to kill all boys under two years old (v16). So the family became refugees fleeing an occupying power.
Syria has been in the news lately, and we’ve seen the images of waves of refugees, destruction, and death.
Finger-pointing and controversy abound as central European countries slam the door on refugees fleeing the violence and brutality of ISIS and Assad’s troops who are aided by arms and interventions of other countries. The Scandinavian countries have also been torn on what to do with the refugee crisis, such as Sweden wanting to close the bridge between itself and Denmark so refugees cannot enter. According to this article, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/behind-swedens-warm-welcome-for-refugees-a-backlash-is-brewing/2015/10/17/b5f4110c-661d-11e5-bdb6-6861f4521205_story.html, Sweden “has taken in more refugees per capita than any other in Europe in recent years, and there has long been cross-party pride in Sweden’s widely lauded humanitarian response.” Currently, Sweden has 15.9% of its people being born outside of Sweden. Norway, Iceland, and Denmark had rates of 14.3%, 13.8%, and 9.9%, respectively. The USA rated in the middle at 14.3%, and President Obama has recently pledged to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year.
While researching Nebraska Cornhusker volleyball, I came across an article at www.omaha.com titled, “Syrians in Nebraska plead: Don’t turn your backs on refugees.” (The link is no longer available as the 11/22/15 story is now over 30 days old.) The article listed individual states and the number of resettled refugees between 2002-15. The article noted that Nebraska ranked 7th per capita with 8,978 refugees. The top five states, based on total number of resettled refugees were: California (92,914); New York (47,503); Florida (42,925); Minnesota (37,511); and Washington (35,911). The lowest five included: Wyoming (5); Montana (61); (Mississippi (91); Hawaii (124); Arkansas (146); and, West Virginia (157).
As we all know, the USA continues to be an occupying force in the Middle East aka “the Muddle East.” In so doing, the USA and other occupiers perpetuate all sorts of suffering. Therefore, when refugees arrive in your state, remember that God “defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:18-19)
