All week long we have been walking with immigrants and meeting with immigrants at the churches where we stop for the night. Within a short time, I have heard many of their stories—where they came from, how they got to western Washington, and where they are going and hope to go. Their journeys are similar to our pilgrimage. We walk and pray in the knowledge that God is with the poor, the stranger and the traveler. The immigrants leave their homes in the hope that they can provide a better life for their children, trusting in God to guide them to their goal.
Their voices burst with pride in challenges overcome, children educated, visas and work permits acquired; swell with sorrow over friends and relations left behind, injured or dead; and dance with joy and humor as they recall jokes on them or occasions for joy. The prayer walk has made me proud of my church's advocacy on behalf of immigrants and poor people; sad at the fear in which many of them live; and joyful at the connections I make with people, immigrants and U.S.-born, all along our way. This grace of pilgrimage, to meet new people and new communities and also see oneself and one's community through the eyes of others and alongside other individuals and communities, must be one of the main reasons the tradition of pilgrimage is common to so many different cultures and faith traditions.
If all those who judge immigrants “criminals” could meet the people I have met and hear their stories, few would then slander the hard working people who cross our borders for the same reason that brought our own ancestors to this country, to make a better life. And that, ultimately is why I am making this pilgrimage, to open my heart to the Gospel call to love my neighbor, Samaritan traveler or Mexican farm worker. We pilgrims are praying for the miracle of comprehensive just immigration reform but we are also seeking our own encounters with God in the people we meet. Perhaps Jesus walked the roads of Galilee and Judea not because that was the only way to travel in those days but because by walking, he met the people he had come to save.
posted by Nick
Thank you for making this pilgrimmage and sharing your day to day impressions and thoughts with the world. Thank you and know that many of us who are working are with you in spirit. I look forward to your arrival in Tacoma.
Posted by: Stacey Small | 08/09/2009 at 01:46 PM