Our Call to Help the Stranger
Three years ago today, the government of Afghanistan collapsed as the American military withdrew and the Taliban came roaring in. Maybe you saw the videos of desperate Afghans crowding the Kabul airport, of young men falling to their deaths as they clung to wheel wells of American planes lifting off, of toddlers being handed across barbed wire to American service members, of the hundreds killed by suicide bombs, of children lost, of people trampled in the panic. Specifically because of their work with and for our country, thousands of Afghan people and their families faced torture and death at the hands of the Taliban and they had to flee.
The immediate response by a group of us at Christ Church was: We have to do something! We have to help these people! We have a moral obligation to help them.
And so, the Christ Church Interfaith Refugee Ministry was born and stood up on its feet. Thanks to the generosity of time, talent, and treasure of so many parishioners, four families are under the Ministry’s umbrella three years later. Thanks to the leadership of Deacon Denise, six congregations – Episcopal, Quaker, Jewish, Methodist, and Lutheran – now work together to help these families.
Global Refuge describes working with immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers as “the long welcome”, and it surely is. Each of these four families arrived in the United States with nothing (unless you count a small garbage bag of clothes and, maybe, a barely working cell phone), and two families arrived without some of their immediate family members (from whom they are still separated). Becoming financially self-sufficient in a vastly different country takes a long time, no matter how hard these refugees work. Overcoming the traumatic danger they experienced and the loss of their country and their way of life will take a lifetime.
“Our” families came into the ministry’s care as long ago as December 2021 and as recently as June 2024. The adults who worked for, or with, the United States were medics, military base guards, armored car drivers, translators, and liaisons between the Afghan government and the U.S. military. Because of this, each one was tagged to be killed by the Taliban; one survived an assassination attempt. The children range in age from toddlers to young adults. Some came with U.S. work authorization; some have just now received permission to work. Marvelously, one is now a resettlement manager with Lutheran Social Services in Baltimore, helping newly arriving immigrants, including the “fourth family”! Every single person is so, so grateful for all that we, Christians and Jews working together to help Muslims, have done and continue to do for them.
When Christ tells us to love our neighbor, when he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan helping the stranger, he does not say that it will be easy, or quick, or painless, or without problems. What He tells us is that this is what we are supposed to do and that in doing so, we are loving Him. Here at Christ Church, we really try to live into these commandments in all sorts of ways – the Refugee Ministry is just one - and all are worthy.
We ask you to pray for the families in our care, and for refugees worldwide. To find out more, or if you can help support us financially, please go to the Refugee Ministry page on the Christ Church website. If you have time or talent to give, we can really use you. Thank you for reading.
On behalf of your Refugee Ministry, and with respect and appreciation,
Ann Barnes