Only a horror story can sometimes get busy folks’ attention, and so that’s what I’m about to tell you.
The setting is a little AME church in Lexington, South Carolina, where people of diverse faith traditions met to pray for Dreamers. We met on December 5, which marks the half way point before Dreamers’ protected status (DACA) ends on March 5. We prayed for Congress to act to create a legislative solution for these young people, who were brought to America as children. They rightly want the opportunity to continue their education, work and raise their families without fear of deportation.
What’s scary about this scene? It can be risky to speak up for unpopular causes, but this is an issue about which most Americans (from both political parties) agree; the vast majority of Americans (including South Carolinians) want Dreamers to access a path to citizenship.
There’s a back story.
Pastor Rob Thomas, who gave the message for our vigil, told part of that very scary back story. In Old Testament times, there was a Persian king called Achashveyrosh. When his wife wouldn’t appear at a party to show everyone how pretty she was, he divorced her. Then, he had his scouts search the kingdom for another beautiful girl to be his bride. They found Esther. Think she’s lucky?
Esther was a Jewish orphan who was raised by her cousin Mordecai. Mordecai encouraged her to hide her ethnicity from King Achashveyrosh. So she did.
When Mordecai refused to bow to the will of Haman, prime minister of Persia, Haman convinced the king to authorize a decree to annihilate the Jews. Mordecai told Queen Esther what Haman was plotting and asked her to advocate for the Jews. Since she hadn’t told her husband she was Jewish, she was understandably afraid. Mordecai urged her to see that it was “for a time like this” that she became queen.
In his sermon, Pastor Rob encouraged us to see that this is “our time” to advocate for the Dreamers. He didn’t say it, but I thought of all kinds of risks we take in doing that. Faith leaders might be afraid of losing congregation members and the revenue needed to sustain their organizations. Elected officials may be concerned about the wrath of some of their most vocal constituents. There is a lot at stake, and this is our time (collectively) to choose how we will respond.
As for Esther, I’ll leave it to you to learn the rest of the story. You’ll be glad you did!
Who Are Our Neighbors? 