The current rhetoric around immigration, asylum and 'foreigners' is not one might call constructive. Statistics are bandied around, particularly by politicians determined to cut numbers. However, behind the numbers are people.
Last week I visited PAFRAS, a centre dedicated to care for and serve asylum-seekers and refugees, based in a church hall in Leeds. PAFRAS stands for 'Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers'. It is a charity, runs mainly on volunteers, and is interested purely in the human faces behind the bald statistics. They feed them, offer community and human society, screen them for medical needs and offer advice in a range of matters. They also run classes for teaching English. Food is also provided and served by a group of young Muslim men who asked to be involved.
What is remarkable is how all this goes on without remark. It isn't done for kudos or gain, but in order to help some very vulnerable people. Yet, what you notice in visiting and speaking with people there is that behind the factual vulnerability of their circumstances, there are some very impressive people who have the determination to withstand poverty in order to make a better life. Many are here because they would have had (literally) no life in their country of origin.
People who bandy statistics should be compelled to visit such places, meet such people, listen to their stories, look them in the eyes, then return to the narrative lent credence by the use of statistics.
Interestingly, this visit followed a visit earlier in the week to the National Coal Mining Museum for England. Apart from finding myself in a deep pit – OK, only 140 metres down – I had to think through the way in which (in some cases) centuries of mining had shaped the sociopsychology of whole communities … and how the abrupt ending (for economic reasons) of this industry deeply scarred these communities, probably for decades to come.
Again, behind the headlines and the economic/political debates there are people with faces and histories – relationships forged and torn apart by the strikes of the 1980s. Yet, while some have engaged in forgiveness and reconciliation, others remain isolated by their former allegiances.
It is not for me to cast judgement on this. But, as with the asylum-seekers and refugees at PAFRAS, human beings bring stories and memories, cultures and relationships, commitments and costs. Sometimes it is important to step back from rhetoric and judgement, and to look and listen – and to see the complicating human person behind it all.
This evening I am going out to the Saturday Gathering, a young church community in Halifax where all-comers – including some of the most vulnerable people in the town – have found love, grace, unreserved care and genuine fellowship. I will be baptising a family of four. Tomorrow I will be at Wakefield Cathedral to preach at two 'hospice' services in the afternoon for people who have been bereaved – we expect around 1,100 people to take part. Behind all these encounters echoes the haunting melody of the Gospel reading read always at Christmas: John 1:1-14. “The Word (the logos, the idea) took flesh and lived among us”… the 'incarnation' changes everything. God comes to us – not vice versa – and we find that we have already been found by him.
That is what underlies the commitment of many who give themselves through the church to the most vulnerable people in our society: love has to take flesh, and the most surprising people can open their eyes and know that they matter.
(And when I go to the meeting of the House of Bishops in London on Monday, these are the people and places that shape the lens through which we do the business.)
Posted with Blogsy
December 6, 2014 at 4:42 pm
Bishop: This is so encouraging….thanks for the mind that speaks truth imaginatively!
December 6, 2014 at 11:48 pm
It Is of course commendable to feel compassion for any people who are suffering.What I find a little strange is that most compassion and concern seems to be given to those living outside of the U.K. I was a registered nurse for most of my professional life and was a community nurse for the last 10 years.There are many people in this country living in the most abject poverty,some of the homes I visited were as awful or worse than many in so called 3rd world countries.The plight of many children here in the U.K. is terrible,cold,not enough food,poor clothes awful parents that beat and abuse them,I would often leave their house go to my car and cry,lets give a thought to those poor children.
December 8, 2014 at 1:36 pm
Reblogged this on hungarywolf.
December 9, 2014 at 8:02 am
The current rhetoric around immigration, asylum and ‘foreigners’ is not one might call constructive
Very true. Genuine question: do you think it would be any more or less constructive if we had clearer categories – refugees and asylum seekers who have nowhere else to go, immigrants who move by choice – or is it time that the Church went back to Leviticus and said that welcoming the sojourner and stranger, whoever they are and whatever the reason they are here, is not an optional extra?
December 9, 2014 at 9:15 pm
This isn’t a comment on what you’ve written just questioning your motivation over something that was out of order.You recently answered(I suppose you could just about call it that) a comment I made by looking at my e-mail address and using my actual full name rather than my screen name.I got in touch with wordpress to find out if this was acceptable.I won’t embarrass you here by writing what they said,you can look at their forum and see for yourself,I didn’t say who you were but I’m sure you’ll recognise the comments.
Sandra Jayne Phillips.
December 14, 2014 at 11:44 am
laodice1, there was no motivation. It was a mistake. The reason I am not writing much or commenting is simply that I am working all the hours that are, and this makes mistakes more likely. I simply wrote your name as I saw it rather than your pseudonym. I apologise – it was not intentional.
At the moment I haven’t time to respond to every comment – especially where it is difficult to know how to respond. But, I approve every comment – however critical – unless abusive, racist, libellous or that to do so might embarrass the commenter.
December 16, 2014 at 10:28 pm
I don’t think that many who live in the upper echelons of society understand why so many ordinary people are getting upset about the amount of people coming to this country.If someone says that they want immigration from the E.U. stopped(very few are against those needing asylum which is something quite different)they are often branded as racist but I don’t find this is the case.People,right or wrong blame immigrants for taking jobs and keeping wages low,they are concerned about extra strain on the infrastructure in the U.K. and as I and my three daughters all work for the NHS we all agree this is in fact true.The government hasn’t given extra money for more staff so a mediocre service is provided rather than a good one and staff are being crushed with the increase in work.Also I take note of what James says and that is all well and good but there are nearly 65 million people on this tiny island.There is already a lack of space,our woods are being cut down to build extra homes I find many places unbearable due to the overcrowding,when does it get to a stage when there will be so many people living here that it becomes unpleasant for all.
Also Nick believe me I know there are many people living in this country who have no quality of life and feel just as hopeless as any asylum seeker.
December 16, 2014 at 10:35 pm
NICK- apology accepted and in return I apologise for jumping to the wrong conclusion.I accept you’re very busy but my opinion for what it’s worth is that anyone who wants answers to religious matters or to understand why the church doesn’t adhere to scriptual teachings should have priority over writing letters to politicians or being overly involved in politics.I find it rather strange that you are a Bishop and seem to think that governments can change the world whereas I’m struggling to become a Christian and yet I already know that only God when he intervenes will bring peace to this earth.