Due to weather conditions, all in-person daytime and evening programs have been canceled across the church’s locations for Wednesday, except for the Recovery programs and Food Pantry at Overland Park. Decisions for Thursday daytime programs will correspond with local school district decisions and will be posted on the church’s website.
Scheduled programming has resumed for Thursday, February 13 at all Resurrection locations.
Our team’s desire to explore the narrative continued today. The day began with reflection at Rim Road. This road sits above El Paso, at the southernmost point of the Rocky Mountains. It provides a beautiful and serene view of both El Paso and portions of Juarez. From this elevation, you are reminded how small and big things feel. The buildings are smaller, the roads, the traffic, the fence. The sky is bigger, the bright southwestern sun. Birds fly free, uninterrupted by any approaching borders.
Lecture began at Abara shortly after. Michael shared his story, that of being a former Border Patrol agent and also a director at a migrant shelter here in El Paso. We learned about the area that garnered a border between the two countries so many decades ago. He spoke to the beginnings of the fence and which portions were built in what years. Michael continued to share statistics and facts about migrant movement into the US.
The team spent the afternoon in the community of El Paso. We were greeted at a migrant shelter which assists guests 48 hours at a time. This particular facility provides a spectrum of services including medical care, travel services, laundry facilities and even a children’s programming space. Passing through the halls, we were witness to dormitories and classrooms, greeting a few individuals with “buenas tardes”. The face of a migrant says many things without verbalizing any words.
Our next destination of the afternoon was Ciudad Nueva and Bethany led us through a presentation on the theology of migration. She spoke to the common thread of movement within the history of the Bible, from Genesis to the New Testament. Bethany noted that God commanded humans to fill the Earth and you cannot fill the Earth unless you move. Through familiar and less-familiar Bible stories, Bethany walked us through the journey of sojourners like Abram, Joseph, Ruth, Daniel and also the Holy family.
We concluded the evening gathered for dinner, similar to the circle in which we started our day. Our days end in devotion and discussion; thoughtful reflection and unwinding of the day’s vocabulary, situations, information. Now we rest, refresh, pray and look forward to tomorrow’s adventure…