A local group affiliated with Mennonite Action will be leading a worship service and march in Downtown Harrisonburg on Saturday to highlight the plight of immigrants and Palestinians.
The theme for the event, which begins with a worship service at 11 a.m. at the Turner Pavilion, is “God’s Love Knows No Borders.”
After the worship service, attendees will be invited to participate in a march that will take a path past the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail and Harrisonburg City Hall.
“Jesus calls us to love our neighbor, and our neighbor is not defined by national borders,” said Tim Seidel, of Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg. “Jesus calls us to welcome the stranger, and that includes refugees and immigrants. God’s love doesn’t stop at the border; it applies to everyone, regardless of where they were born or their immigration status.”
This message would seem to be best directed at those on the religious right who claim to be Christians, but seem to think the message of the Jesus they claim to worship is best interpreted as picking winners and losers based on where people were born.
“Our hearts are broken seeing families torn apart,” said Reah Clymer, a student at Eastern Mennonite University. “How, we ask, can those who tout ‘family values’ be indifferent to the pain of children separated from their parents? Following a God of love and compassion, we are compelled to extend that compassion to all of God’s children.”
The event on Saturday will include what organizers are calling a “worship service protest,” with hymns, prayers and personal stories and connections to both Palestinians and undocumented immigrants in the local community.
Dozens of “God’s Love Knows No Borders” actions are being organized by hundreds of Mennonites across the United States and Canada.
The intention of the actions is to promote a vision of life, liberation, peace, justice, and compassion that extends to all of God’s children — and to push against a climate of fear and division, and specifically to oppose and offer an alternative to rising Christian nationalism.
“We are distraught by the hijacking of Christianity to justify hate and division,” said Tyler Goss, of the Shalom Mennonite Congregation. “Christian Nationalism is not Christlike. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the teachings and the example of Jesus Christ, who called us to love our neighbor and to care for the vulnerable.”
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Chris Graham
