Tuesday 14 March 2023

Refugees (and Migrants) - a Spiritual Reflection

 

Sculpture by Banksy

REFUGEES
By Brian Bilston

They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way

(now read from bottom to top)

Jesus is the master of challenging us to view the world and its values from the bottom up. Perhaps the best example is the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 (Sermon on the Plain). In his world and time, everybody believed and taught that the poor and sick were cursed by God. Jesus had the audacity to say that they were blessed and would inherit God's blessings.