“When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don’t take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God, your God. (Lev 19:33-36)

Once a year in the Mission District of San Francisco they reenact the story of Joseph and Mary as they sought a place to stay, they call it Las Posadas.  As they go from door to door requesting hospitality, the cry from inside rings out, “this is not an inn, move on—I cannot open lest you be a scoundrel.” It’s that fear of the stranger that keeps the doors closed or our lives, homes and our churches.  Instead of being welcoming communities, many are closed, restrictive and unwelcoming—even hostile.

So the prayer goes out ‘come quickly Lord Jesus’, but if the Lord shows up today will you offer him shelter or will you turn Him away because He doesn’t fit your idea of what He should look like.  Being open means being vulnerable, but on the cross the arms of Jesus were open wide, inviting the ‘who so ever’ to come on in.

Currently, there are some 800,000 immigrants that came to the US illegally as children with their parents and have been allowed to stay under the DACA program.  The US is all they have ever known and desire to remain here.  They’re knocking at the door, waiting to come in. Will somebody let them in?