Into God's Very Heart

Beloved in Christ,

 I am writing to you from the 81st General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a gift and privilege to take my share in these councils, carrying all of you, and the work we share, close in my heart and prayers as I do so. 

On Monday, the House of Bishops approved resolution C031, “Migration with Dignity,” which calls on the church at all levels to “make urgent efforts through direct action” to support the basic needs of arriving migrants, and calls on various churchwide agencies to develop resources to support dioceses and congregations as we engage this work. The House of Deputies is scheduled to vote on it today. 

There is perhaps no clearer and more consistent moral imperative in the scriptures than welcoming the stranger and caring for the immigrant. Indeed, the heart of our faith is that God welcomed us into God’s very heart through Jesus when we were strangers to him. This moral imperative is taking on increased urgency as we continue to see record migration across borders around the world, and as those fleeing unimaginable hardship, violence, and threat, are often dehumanized by the actions and rhetoric in the countries where they are arriving, including and especially our own.

Here in Minnesota, we have taken some initial steps in this work. A group based at St. John’s, Minneapolis has been supporting, and inviting several other congregations to help support, four newly arrived families from Ecuador. Though these families—who are part of what we anticipate will be many thousands of arrivals in the months and years to come—are fleeing political persecution and threats to their very lives, they do not qualify as refugees, and therefore are not entitled to the financial and others supports available from the federal government. Several other congregations in Minnesota are working with ecumenical and interfaith groups to provide other supports. 

Following the mandate of this resolution, I hope to help expand this work in our diocese over time. If you would like to learn more about our initial efforts, and how you can support, please contact Archdeacon Rena Turnham or Deacon Rex McKee. 

If you have not yet, please also take some time to read about the current situation facing Ecuadorian migrants in Minnesota, who are fleeing a dangerous and unstable situation, are by and large allowed to be in the United States, and yet have no legal protections or access to resources, cannot work, and face threats of deportation back to the situation they fled, often by walking through the notorious Darién Gap. Our siblings in Christ are pleading for our help, and the House of Bishops has taken the first, crucial step to answer that plea with love.

Above all, please keep the Ecuadorian migrant families we are supporting, all migrants everywhere, the families left behind in unstable home countries, and all who are doing the courageous work of supporting our migrant siblings, in your prayers.

Grace and Peace,

The Right Reverend Craig Loya