In times like these, we need to practice the art of welcoming.  And by “we” I mean the whole world.

We need to rediscover the high art of welcoming the stranger,

… relearn that welcoming is an antidote to fear,

… exercise the art of welcoming until it is second nature,

… recognize that welcoming is a higher art than the art of war.

As waves of displaced people seeking refuge from war wash across the world, we need to welcome them and not build walls forcing them to seek elsewhere.  Walls are built by fear and nothing else.

… No such wall can be built by anyone who is in touch with their moral center,

… because a wall denies our kinship with those seeking safety from violence,

… because there is no “elsewhere” but where we live, 

… and because you could be the next person to be walled out.

When you see pictures of refugees, you see mostly families – men and women and their children – seeking peace and shelter.  You have nothing to fear from them.  Take your grown children’s toys out of the attic and offer them to the strangers’ children.  They have left their own in the ruins of their homes.

 But among the refugees are young, single men, who have every reason to be angry.  Their futures have been left in the ruins of their homes.  These are the strangers you fear most …  you fear there are terrorists hidden among them.  That most of these young men have not become terrorists is to be celebrated.

 If there are hidden terrorists, it is because those young men have been convinced they have no choice.  It is so, as anyone who is suicidal believes they have no other choice.

 So, hidden among any thousand refugees, there is one terrorist.  If each of us welcomes one refugee, 999 of us have nothing to fear.

 The one in a thousand who welcomes a hidden terrorist has taken the same risk as all of us.  If you are that one, should you fear the guest you invited into the safety of your home and fed and comforted?

 To every thousand terrorists hidden in a million refugees (if there are that many, which is doubtful), your welcome has given a choice they did not have before … the choice to see you as other than their enemy.

 Given such a choice, how many of that thousand will remain committed to violence?  If 999 change their minds, what a victory that would be in the war on terrorism!

 Believe that the possibility exists, and do not be afraid.

-Eric E. Sabelman

ministry during Meeting for Worship, 15 November, 2015

postscrip:

Palo Alto Friends Meeting has a history of welcoming refugees.  We sponsored a Vietnamese family who were fleeing that war and gave them shelter in a trailer in our parking lot.  We helped refugees from El Salvador find work and housing.  Maybe it is time to take this action again.