I’m in New York City today, home to at least 19 Mennonite and BIC congregations and one of the two places where MCC has partnered with congregations in the East Coast region to meet the needs for low cost legal services among recent immigrant populations. This work grows out of MCC’s commitment to welcome the stranger in our midst and to love them as ourselves (Lev. 19: 33-34).

If you’ve been reading the news, you know that immigration has become “the issue” in the Republican Party nomination contest. (See NY Times article.) While there have been one or two bright spots of Christian theology breaking through (Gov. Mike Huckabee’s statement regarding providing certain education opportunities to the children of undocumented immigrants – “We’re a better country than to punish children for what their parents did.”) the discussion has turned increasingly punitive as candidates compete to be seen as toughest on “illegal aliens.”

You’ll note that two phrases are there in that last paragraph – “undocumented immigrants” and “illegal aliens.” Legally it means the same thing, but how the discussion is framed is incredibly important. As George Lakoff and Sam Ferguson write in this article:

“Illegal,” used as an adjective in “illegal immigrants” and “illegal aliens,” or simply as a noun in “illegals” defines the immigrants as criminals, as if they were inherently bad people. In conservative doctrine, those who break laws must be punished — or all law and order will break down. Failure to punish is immoral.

“Illegal alien” not only stresses criminality, but stresses otherness. As we are a nation of immigrants, we can at least empathize with immigrants, illegal or not. “Aliens,” in popular culture suggests nonhuman beings invading from outer space — completely foreign, not one of us, intent on taking over our land and our way of life by gradually insinuating themselves among us. Along these lines, the word “invasion” is used by the Minutemen and right-wing bloggers to discuss the wave of people crossing the border. Right-wing language experts intent on keep them out suggest using the world “aliens” whenever possible.

So how do we provide a Christian witness, one based on the very basic belief that “God is love?” (1 John 3: 16b-18 continues whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in [them]. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear. . . the one who fears is not made perfect in love.”)

Sandra Perez, a MCC local service worker and sole staff person for the New York Mennonite Immigration Program, witnesses by helping people who have a way of legally adjusting their status to navigate the legal system. She also witnesses by listening to the struggles of people who come for good information – an apartment broken into and rent money stolen, a less honest immigration office who wants to charge the person $150 just to get their documents back from the office. She may not be able to solve any of these problems, but at least by listening, she helps break down the walls of fear and hopelessness that many recent immigrants, documented and undocumented, see being built higher every day by the rhetoric of the political sphere.

Many of you reading this blog don’t live in New York City. But we all live in the same country. How can you be witnessing to our belief as Christians that “God is love?” Who can you listen to deeply? With whom can you share an alternative language or “framing” of the immigration realities that exist everywhere in our country – New York City and Iowa, Texas and Pennsylvania?

P.S. If you are interested in making a donation to the work of the NY Mennonite Immigration Program, please write to NYMIP, 169 Knickerbocker Av., Brooklyn, NY 11237.

Today the Judiciary Committee of the Pennsylvania House Legislature are voting on several bills that could help dry-up the flow of illegal handguns that contribute to record homicide rates in many Pennsylvania cities. Read more.

In early October, a group of 38 Anabaptists gathered in Philadelphia to talk about the issue of handgun violence. The seminar focused on prayer, education and action in response to the reality of increased gun violence in our society. Participants shared stories of how gun violence impacted their lives and also how churches were responding and building peace. One session looked at the way legal handgun sales in Pennsylvania enter illegal markets, increasing the deadliness of violence, and also ways the flow of handguns can be interrupted. The day concluded with an opportunity to strategize how the church could take action, a prayerful commissioning to action and letter writing to political and church leaders encouraging them to support efforts to reduce handgun violence.

If you'd like a PDF copy of the report on this gathering, send me an e-mail (click on the envelope icon at the top of this post).

The two bills being voted on today are:
• HB 22 – One Handgun A Month – would limit a person who is not a licensed collector or law-enforcement officer to the purchase of one handgun per 30 day period.
• HB 29 – Lost or Stolen – would require the legal owner of a handgun to report it lost or stolen within 24 hours of discovering its loss or theft.

Pennsylvania is known as a state where the National Rifle Association maintains a strong lobby. The NRA opposes both of these bills (read their statement here) despite the fact that polls show a majority of Pennsylvanians and gun owners support measures like these.

During the gathering in October, one speaker noted how important it was for persons interested in reducing handgun violence and illegal trafficking in handguns to raise their voices.

If you need to look up your legislator, go here.

If you're interested in information about national gun violence realities, visit the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV)

That may depend on whether Christians raise their voices over the next 24 hours. (Advocacy tools from MCC and Bread for the World.)

Today the U.S. Senate takes up debate on the once-every-five-years Farm Bill. Impacted by the mammoth $288 billion legislation are programs ranging from commodity farmer subsidies to food stamp programs. For a range of articles on the bill, see the following: LA Times Editorial, Sioux Falls Argus Leader article, San Jose Mercury News.

As Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” writes in a NY Times Op Ed this past weekend, the Farm Bill has long been a cake divided between the big commodity agribusiness interests (corn, wheat, rice, soybeans and cotton). However the equation has recently shifted, both because of record high prices for some of those commodities like corn, and because increasing numbers of concerned citizens (including Christians) are linking the Farm Bill to questions about health policy and poverty reduction initiatives.

When was the last time you ate something that didn’t contain corn syrup?

The U.S. has long subsidized the five big commodities listed above in the interest of protecting farmers from price fluctuations and in maintaining international dominance when it comes to trade in these commodities.

The result of these policies, where farmers are guaranteed a floor price for their product, encourages overproduction, driving down the price of the commodity in the market. The result is that foods that utilize high amounts of corn products like corn syrup can be produced more cheaply. In a competitive market, the end result is that cheaper calories come in the form of junk food.

Meanwhile, produce farmers (fresh vegetables) benefit very little from the public funding in the farm bill, if at all. This makes healthier foods (the ones our parents and our doctors are trying to get us to eat more of) relatively more expensive. For people on tight grocery budgets it becomes harder to get a balanced and healthy diet. Eating lots of high sugar, high fat foods is one reason why the biggest killer in the U.S. is heart disease and why millions struggle with diabetes and other health complications.

There are many things that could increase people’s ability to get healthier food on tight budgets and a number are contained in several amendments that will be suggested to the farm bill. Some would make it easier to make school lunches healthier. Others would increase funding for local farmers markets. Individually these are baby steps – collectively they are improvement.

To find out more about these amendments and get contact information for your senators, please check out Bread for the World’s website here.

The current system makes it harder for small farmers in the U.S. and around the world.

While improving the farm bill is important, it’s also important to remember the flaws in the whole system itself. U.S. crop subsidies, which given the current political reality will probably remain part of any Farm Bill that passes in 2007, are one of the largest distortions in the world market. (We have company in this dubious category from Europe, which also maintains large subsidies that need to be addressed).

Many of our farm subsidies have been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization. In many cases they make it impossible for small farmers in developing countries to compete (U.S. cotton farmers in 2005 received $5 billion in subsidies for growing a crop that would have brought only $4 billion on the market – see Oxfam article here.)

Again, some of the amendments being proposed to the current farm bill would curb some of the worst parts of the subsidy program (one proposal would cap the largest payment to an individual farmer at $250,000 – directing more support to small farmers and less to large agribusiness). But the long-term goal needs to be, at a minimum, leveling the playing field between U.S. commodity farmers and farmers in the developing world.

To learn more about perspectives from MCC friends and partners, click here.

To learn more about the 2007 Farm Bill, see Oxfam's site.

It's generally accepted that where and when we grow up has an impact on how we view the world. Part of learning about the world, then, requires that we either put ourselves in new situations or that we listen deeply to people who speak out of a different context.

One of MCC's efforts in this regard is the recent Immigration Listening Project. Immigration has become a hot news item and a polarizing discussion in U.S. society as well as in Anabaptist circles. In order to encourage different parts of the church to listen to each other's experiences, MCC conducted 36 listenings over the course of a year, across the U.S.

Each group was asked the same nine questions. Some listenings took place in recent immigrant congregations (meaning the members have mostly immigrated to the U.S. in the preceeding generation). Others took place in long-time immigrant congregations (meaning the members ancestors immigrated more than a generation ago). Some groups were mixed. Mennonites, Brethren in Christ and Amish participated in the listenings.

The report on these listenings is now available in pdf from here. Take a look and let me know what you think. Also, think about using the Listening Report as a focus for discussion with friends or folks from your church. If you're looking for ways to get involved in making our U.S. immigration system more just, check out these MCC resources, and these advocacy tools from MCC's Washington Office.

Many people ponder "What would Jesus do?"  A couple years back I heard of the "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign (the organizers suggested that SUV's would not be Christ's first choice).  

But in this age of growing awareness about global warming, and for those of us living in or near any urban area with public transit, should we also ask whether our faith leads us to get on the bus?

Here at MCC we've been riding the bus a lot more lately.  Partly this is out of concern for cutting carbon emissions.  But, as MCC staffer Susan Wenger shared in a brown bag lunch yesterday, concern for the environment is only the tip of the iceberg. 

It's a social justice issue.

Susan noted that many of the people who ride the bus depend on it to get to work. She noted one study that estimates to own a car, pay insurance, maintenance, gas and taxes a person needs to make $10 an hour (current minimum wage is $5.15 and scheduled to rise to $7.25 in the next two years).  In this country where many, including myself, grew up thinking of a driver's license as a right of passage for 16 year-olds and regular access to a car as perfectly normal, this challenges us to new awareness. 

Likewise, persons with vision difficulties or physical limitations that prevent driving also depend on public transportation for mobility and independence.

Susan shared that in the Lancaster area, due to recent federal funding cuts, bus service is in great danger of being cut by as much as 30%.  As a result, it endangers people's ability to work and get to medical care.

It's a People Thing

We often hear pastors talk about how Jesus carried out his ministry among the people whereever they were.  Susan noted that riding the bus often means you meet people you wouldn't otherwise meet.  From my own experiences riding local buses and a lot of Greyhound, I can say that I have a much greater awareness of the society that we live in than I otherwise would - the gift of numerous stories given and conversations overheard (we live in the era of cellphones) that provided windows into parts of our society where I have not lived. 

Walking into the crowd waiting at bus station this morning and knowing that this was likely the most ethnically, economically and ability diverse group I would be part of that day, I wondered whether the bus station was a closer image of what Jesus would want the church to be than the picture we often encounter on Sunday mornings (the most segregated time in our society.)  If we, as Christians, are to be little Christs, then riding the bus may well be a step in the right direction.

It's Good for You Too

From a self-care perspective, riding the bus also has a lot of positives.  Susan noted the following benefits, to which I'll add my own two cents:

• More Exercise/Fresh Air:  Even if you sit while you ride, you get to walk to the bus stop.  As someone who sits at a desk most of the day, even these few minutes of movement and being outside, rain or shine, are energizing.
• More time for prayer, reading, journaling:  I know my own rhythm of reading about the world, journaling about my life and conversing with God about both is much healthier when I'm riding public transit on a regular basis.
• Less stress:  Growing up outside a small town in Virginia, I used to think I would never live in a city.  Every time I visited one after I started driving I was always on edge.  Luckily, I realized it wasn't the city that set me on edge but the stop and go traffic, and the collective stress of people all wanting to be somewhere else.  Now, after living in a number of big cities, I've revised my promise to myself - I'll never live in the exurbs and have to drive to work every day in an urban area.
• Valuable Life Skill:  Big city mass transit systems can be daunting if you're not used the rhythm of the whole thing.  The more experience you have, even on smaller urban systems, the more second nature it is for you.  Especially if you're younger, mass transit can increase your independence and your adaptability to new places. 
• Costs less:  Since we usually think of the cost of driving as being the cost of gas, this one may not be immediately apparent.  But Susan pointed out that if you calculate not only gas, but insurance and wear and tear, the 24 mile round-trip from Lancaster to Akron would cost $11.52, compared to about $4 for the bus.

So, if it's an option where you live, try taking the bus.  The more people that ride, the less bus service will depend on funding decisions made in Washington or the state capital.  And that's good for everyone, especially those who depend on the bus to get them to work, school or medical appointments. 

Resources

Check out the following if you want to:

• Get involved with other MCC Care for Creation Initiatives or other Social Justice Advocacy opportunities
• Learn more about mass transit options in your area through this clickable map.  You can also learn more general facts about the benefits of public transit.
• Learn more about the Lancaster County transit system (for those of you that live nearby) and the ongoing Share the Ride Challenge that promotes bus riding and carpooling.