By the Rev. Scott M. Kershner University Chaplain
Our country has been roiled by tension and controversy in response to President Trump’s immigration ban. Everyone has an opinion on the matter, usually very strongly held.
Have you ever stepped back to consider where your opinions come from? What is the foundation of your perspective on the world, from which your opinions are formed? For most of us most of the time, our perspectives are rooted in the deep structure of our identity and values.
Identities are complex and intersectional. How do you understand your identity and attendant values? How do they shape your perspective on issues like immigration and refugees?
As a way of encouraging you to think about your identity and values, I’ll write here from the perspective of my tradition and my identity as a Lutheran pastor and as a Chaplain. I hope that will spur you in your own reflections.
In my religious tradition, a person’s deepest identity is grounded in baptism, an identity summed up in the phrase, Child of God. What does this identity have to do with my perspective on immigration and refugees? Quite a bit, it turns out. As part of every baptismal service, we are charged to “serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” This charge to serve others and striving for justice and peace is not just an obligation. It is not just another thing on the to-do list. It is my identity; it is who I am.
Do I succeed to living this out in every way at all times? Nope. Do I have blind spots and inconsistencies? No doubt. But I strive to be true to this identity and live it out with self-honesty and integrity, knowing I do even that imperfectly.
When I was ordained a pastor, the service included the following prayer: “For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, the lonely, the forgotten and all who suffer; for refugees, prisoners and all who are in danger; that they may be relieved and protected.”
Again, advocacy for the vulnerable in society is central to my identity and by vocation as a pastor. It’s foundational to who I understand myself to be.
Does this mean that everyone who shares my identity as a Lutheran Christian has identical views on the questions of immigration and refugees in the age of Trump? Certainly not. People of good will disagree on the details of policy, and they do.
My tradition and identity consider the well-being of society’s most vulnerable and forgotten to be of paramount importance. It’s my starting point, and it inevitably shapes my perspective on the immigration ban.
I stand with immigrants and refugees because I can do no other.
As a 2011 social policy statement passed by my church puts it, “Be it resolved that all members of this church, including its leaders, encouraged to protest laws and proposed laws that ignore the Bible’s witness to care for the stranger among us and to serve all people . . . and taking all actions that demonstrate welcome and live out accompaniment of immigrants.”
I have given you windows into my identity to initiate reflection on how each of us understands our identity and how those identities shape our perspectives on the issues of our day.
Now it’s your turn.
Chaplain’s Corner reflects the views of an individual member of the religious field. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire university. The content of the Forum page is the responsibility of the editor in chief and the Forum editor.
