Immigration: A Christian Dilemma

    Should we build a wall at the border, or should we let everyone through?  As I scroll through my social media feeds, I see posts by friends that seem to support both extremes.  Some say that, as a matter of security, out nation must seal the border.  Others say that as a matter of Christian compassion, we must care for the foreigners among us and allow them in. 

So what should a faithful Christian believe?

Is there a “right” answer?

Honestly, I don’t know. 

    What I do know, is that both extremes miss the mark.  I recognize that both “sides” are represented by people of faith who believe in the message of the gospel.  But at the same time, each group ignores vital and valid points that are made by the other.

    In the interests of full disclosure, I am the product of an immigrant family.  My grandparents came here from Germany, as did my Mother-in-law.  Our family is certainly sympathetic to the cause of immigrants.  But even so, I understand that the discussion pulls us in different directions.

Here are some points of discussion worth considering:

1)      As followers of God, we are called to be the voice for the voiceless (Proverbs 31:8) as well as to care for the foreigners among us (Exodus 22, Jeremiah 22, Ezekiel 22, Zechariah 7)

2)      There are limited resources with which to care for them and a limited number of volunteers who can provide care.

3)     Border crossings that avoid official checkpoints, cross deserts and other  inhospitable territory.  As a result, men, women and children die crossing the border.

4)      Unscrupulous people, who are hired to guide others across the border, often abandon their charges or sell them into various forms of human trafficking.

5)      Whenever the chance of success is higher, or the rewards for success become greater, more people attempt to cross the border.

6)      Is it fair, or just, to those who are following the law and applying for proper documentation, to allow undocumented immigrants to flow across the border?

7)      Is it fair, or just, for native born citizens to compete for employment against undocumented migrants?

8)      There are valid local and national security concerns related to some of the people who are crossing the border.  Is it justice to put others at risk by allowing known criminals into the country without a background check?

   Clearly, we are called to be compassionate and to care for the foreigners among us, but the most compassionate, caring, and just thing to do may not be found at either extreme.  Building walls and returning undocumented migrants results in injustice, but opening the floodgates and allowing everyone in creates a different kind of injustice.  Making it easier to cross the border will increase the number of people who die crossing it.  And the failure to regulate who is crossing, will drive migrants into the hands of human traffickers. 

    When the waiting list for legal documentation can drag on for years, how are those applicants harmed by migrants who are given such documentation after crossing the border in the dark of night?

    We have seen similar waves of immigration.  There were waves of Irish, Germans, Czechs, Chinese, Vietnamese, and others.  Perhaps with this wave of immigrants from Central America, we might reconsider an old idea.  What if we built a new “Ellis Island” on our border with Mexico?  It would be a place where migrants would be welcomed, cared for, and kept safe, but also a place where they could be documented, we could conduct background checks, and verify that they met other requirements. 

    At Ellis Island, migrants were tested for disease, and were required to provide documentation that they had employment and a place to live in their new country.  While most migrants passed through Ellis Island in a day or two, my grandfather was detained for a week because the man who was supposed to verify his employment was delayed.  He was finally approved for entry after that man sent a telegram which verified his status.

Once again, I don’t know what the answer is.  Most likely, there is no single answer.

But each extreme carries us toward injustice. 

Justice and compassion demand that we try to find a way between these conflicting demands. 

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The Scandal of Christmas

Christmas is a scandal.  

We may have shined it up, but that first Christmas was nothing like we pretend.  

We've made the manger look pretty and we added lots of twinkling lights and shiny decorations.   But in all of our celebrations we should never forget the scandal.

In Matthew we learn that Jesus descended from Rahab a prostitute, enemy, and foreigner who hid Israelite spies in the city of Jericho.  Ruth, who was a widow and a foreigner from Moab.  King David and Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba), who were adulterers.  David was also a philanderer and a murderer.  Manasseh, who was the worst king Israel ever had.  According to the Old Testament, Manasseh committed “detestable sins”, and was “…more evil than the Ammonites.”  And then of course there was Mary and Joseph who were just flat-out poor.

From the story of Mary and Joseph we learn that Jesus was sent to save his people from their sins.  He was to be called Emmanuel, “God with us.” This reminds us that we are not alone.  God has entered this world and lives among us. 

We remember that shepherds were the outsiders and the outcasts.  They smelled bad. They touched dead animals and were often ceremonially unclean.  They were very near the bottom of the social order.  And yet, God chooses to announce the arrival of his son, the son of the King of the Universe, to them rather than to kings or priests.

And then Simeon prophesied that Jesus, the promised Messiah of the Jews, had been sent by God as a light to the Gentiles.  Imagine that.  Israel's Messiah, for whom the Jews had waited for hundreds of years, had been sent to save the the non-Jews, the people who were outsiders.

Finally, John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus was the creator of the Universe who became God in human flesh.  Jesus was the light that gives light to everyone.

Jesus came and made his dwelling place among humans, he came to live among us, as one of us.  John’s whole purpose was to reveal Jesus so that all might believe.

This is the great scandal of Christmas.

Centuries before the arrival of Jesus, God was writing a story that invited and welcomed outsiders, outcasts, foreigners, foul-ups, criminals, and sinners.   

Everybody that society looked down on, God invited in.   

Everybody who thought they weren’t good enough, or rich enough, or who just thought that they weren’t enough, Jesus came to open the door and pay the price so that everyone could come into his father’s house.

The savior of the world was not born in the capitol city.  The king of the universe was not welcomed by the powerful and the important.  

The rich, the royalty, and the politically powerful weren't even invited.

The Christmas story is filled with the rejects, outcasts, outsiders, screw-ups, foreigners, and everyone that the rich, powerful, popular (and even regular people) loved to hate.

The story of Christmas is about redemption and transformation.  It is a story of outsiders being invited in, a story of poor people becoming parents to a king, a story of the outcasts hearing the good news long before the rich, the powerful and the popular.

The story of Christmas is an invitation.  

All of us who thought that we weren’t good enough, or rich enough, or too messed up, or too sinful, or whatever.  All of us have been invited in.  Jesus announced to the world that God has set a place at the table for everyone.

As we begin a new year, remember that no one is too far from God to be invited in.  

Look around.

Who are the people that are looked down upon, unpopular, poor, despised, outcast, or ignored?  

The Christmas story invites them too.

That's the scandal.

Every one of us, no matter who we are, and no matter what we have done, has a place at the table.

Even me.

Even you.

Without the scandal, there is no Christmas.

We are called to be like the shepherds, and Simeon, and Anna, and John the Apostle, and John the Baptist, and the angels, and everyone else in this story, Let us go out into the world and share the good news of Jesus, the light of the world, so all might believe. 

Even the outcasts.

Especially, the outcasts.

 

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Cyborg Adventure: Realistic Expectations

    Shortly after I wrote “Managing Expectations,” I returned to my surgeon’s office for a CT scan and a final evaluation before my surgery.  At that appointment I had a conversation with the chief audiologist that sounded a lot like the blog I had just written about managing expectations.  He pulled out several sheets of paper and went down a list of potential realities and risks.  Even though I had already written about expectations, and even though I was not surprised by such a conversation, there were things on that list that made me think. 

    First, I can expect that there will be a “non-disfiguring” bump on my head where the implant is located.  Duh.  I mean, I’ve seen it, it’s really pretty small, but they would have to grind half-way through my skull to make it flush with the rest of my skin.  I don’t think that I would mind a bump nearly as much as having a hole in my skull.  Besides, I’m just not that vain.

    There is a chance that I might experience “increased tinnitus.”  While I suppose this is possible, I’m not especially worried about this one.  My hearing loss began with tinnitus and if there is one-word that describes much of this adventure, tinnitus would be that word.  The ringing in my ears never stops.  Sometimes I don’t really notice it, but I’ve been to rock concerts with our church youth group and could still hear my ears ringing above the screaming guitars.  So yeah, I suppose it’s possible for my tinnitus to get worse, but I’m not sure how it could.

    It is possible that I will experience dizziness.  Several folks online have said that this may be one of the main reasons you shouldn’t make plans for the first week of your recovery.  It isn’t surprising that dizziness is common considering that they are poking holes in, and inserting wires into, the organ that not only gives you the ability to hear, but also provides your sense of balance.  The good news is that even though I might experience dizziness, it is very rare for this to “be prolonged.”

    Next, there were things that were a little more serious.  Although, rare, it is possible for the surgery to be a failure.  That is sobering but I suppose it’s good news that such occurrences are rare.  Also sobering was the news that, in perhaps 1% of cases, the facial nerve can be damaged during surgery which can cause numbness or partially paralyze your face.  Aside from any damage to the facial nerve, it is also possible for me to experience “numbness or stiffness around the ear” and my sense of taste could be affected temporarily.

    It is possible that in installing/inserting the cochlear implant, that the surgery might cause a leak of “perilymph fluid.”  I had to look that one up.  Perilymph fluid is a fluid contained in a part of the cochlea next to where the implant goes.  If this leaks (and doesn’t stop) it can cause dizziness and might require another surgery to stop the leak.  I’m hoping that doesn’t happen.

    The last two were the most sobering. Med-El, the manufacturer of the cochlear implant I will receive, talks a lot about how their thinner, softer implant is designed to “minimize” damage to the cochlea.  I allowed myself to think that meant I might still retain some natural hearing.  The audiologist was clear that with the insertion of my implant, I will most likely become totally deaf in my left ear.  The only consolation is that since I have so little hearing left in that ear, it probably won’t make much difference anyway.

    Med-El, like everyone else, likes to share good news and success stories about their products.  I have read stories about folks who sing in choir, and a concert cellist who was able to return to the orchestra after receiving an implant.  I knew that many people cannot hear music, even with a cochlear implant, but I allowed myself to hope that I would be able enjoy music and perhaps even to sing again.  I was told that since these implants are designed, first and foremost, to aid in understanding speech, they are not optimized for music and it is possible that music may never again be a part of my life.

    I still have hope, but as I manage my expectations, I have to remember that sometimes reality can be harder than we want it to be.

Still, we press forward.

A New Cyborg Adventure

    In June of 2011 I wrote “Reflections on Going Deaf,” where I described how my hearing was progressively fading.  I had seen a specialist (ear, nose, throat – an Otolaryngologist ) who sent me to see “the guy” at Ohio State Medical Center (who only does ears – an Otologist).  His professional opinion was that there was no discernable cause other than “sometimes this just happens.”  He suggested that I just make the best of things with hearing aids and expect that sometime in the future I would need to have a cochlear implant.

    Since then, I got more powerful hearing aids, our family moved to the Massillon/Canton area and I changed audiologists (the guys that program my hearing aids).  Like everyone always is, Walt, my new audiologist, was surprised at how quickly my hearing was being lost.  He suggested that given the importance of hearing, I ought to get a second opinion regardless of how good the OSU guy was.  He recommended that I see specialist that is “the guy” in this area and I did.  Last August I drove over to Dr. Lippy’s office in Warren, Ohio had a bunch of testing done and saw Dr. Berenholz (Dr. Lippy is retired, I think).  There I got just about the same news that I had at Ohio State.  No real reason for my progressive hearing loss could be identified but some people, like me, are “just lucky.”  Yippee. 

    What’s more, their evaluation determined that I had already lost so much of my hearing that I probably qualified for a cochlear implant and insurance would likely pay for it.  At that time, there were still a few tweaks left that we could do to make my hearing aids last a little longer so we agreed to meet again in six months.  We met again last month and did the testing all over again.  Not surprisingly, my hearing has continued to get worse.  With my hearing aids on, sitting in a soundproof room, they read random sentences to me (through a speaker) and I was supposed to repeat as much as I could understand back to them.  I got 40 percent.  It was time to see if our insurance would cover the implant.

    For those of you who have never had hearing loss I want to try to express what my loss might “sound” like to you.  I have no hearing in the high frequencies at all so even hearing aids don’t help because it doesn’t matter how loud you make it.  I can’t hear mosquitos or flies or bees.  I can’t hear the microwave beep or the smoke alarm or my alarm clock.  I can’t hear a lot of bells or the warning beep that tells you that you forgot to turn your headlights off.  I can hardly hear sopranos at all and pianos sound strange.  At my kids’ band concerts I can hear the percussion and the low brass, trumpets sometimes, and woodwinds almost never.  Music doesn’t sound musical, and even familiar songs sound uncomfortably strange and out of tune.  My car radio is rarely used because I can’t listen to music and while I can generally hear talk radio when the car is sitting still, the ambient noise when in motion makes everything unintelligible regardless of how much I turn up the volume.  A lot of times what I hear sounds like my head is inside a cardboard box.

    Last week Dr. Lippy’s office called and said that our insurance would cover 100 percent of a cochlear implant minus a sizable deductible.  I have an appointment at the end of the month to get a CT scan of my head and more tests.  After that I have to see my family doctor, have a physical and get his permission, and then we can schedule the surgery.

    After the surgery, there are four weeks of recovery before I return to the office and they turn the implant on for the first time.  Then, there are six months (or more) of physical therapy as my brain (re)learns how to hear.  I admit that I am a little excited and also a little afraid.  I look forward to being able to hear again, especially to the possibility of hearing music again but I also worry.  What if there are side effects?  What if it doesn’t work?

    In any case, the process has started.  I am, gradually, going deaf and so I will need the implant to function in a hearing world.

    In the immortal words of Buckwheat from the “Our Gang” television show… “I don’t know where we’re going, but we’re on our way.”