Across the Pastor’s Desk by Sean Forde

The word “amparo” means protection in Spanish.  It means the protection of a living creature from suffering or damage. It is also the name of an advocacy program designed to help migrant minors in the U.S. The program’s full name is Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities (AMMPARO). It’s just one of many answers to serving children who are forced to flee their communities because of violence, poverty, environmental displacement or lack of opportunities.

Where is your family’s country of origin? Are you proud of, neutral or disinterested in your heritage? These are questions that I asked in a recent immersion Bible study, and the conversation was great and lively as participants spoke of their heritage and shared stories of their parents’ and grandparents’ journeys to America. Many emigrated from Scandinavian and European countries like Norway, Germany and England.

One of our passages for the season of Lent and our theme of amparo reminds us how to treat the foreigners in our midst. God cares for the foreigners living among us. “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:34).

Replace the word Egypt with America in the passage, and you’ll begin to see that God wants fair treatment for all people regardless of where they’re from. The truth is, “American means people who come from someplace else”: a quote by Andrew Zimmern. You see, we were all foreigners at some point in our history. God is the one who reminds us of that truth and how to treat people today.

The good news is that God loves you and the foreigner residing among us. God is the one calling us to treat them well. God bids us to remember that we all were once foreigners and reminds us to be hospitable to the those living right here in the Albert Lea area: our Sudanese families, our Karen families, our South American families and all who would call Albert Lea and the surrounding area home.

As you journey with the Lord this Lenten season, remember God’s love for the foreigner and remember God’s love for you.

Sean Forde is associate pastor at First Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.