I touched the fence ...

Last Saturday I went to Friendship Park aka Border Field State Park right at the border of Mexico and the U.S. Quite literally, I was able to touch the fence. This will soon end with the new impenetrable fence coming in. Right now families are able to visit with each other to a certain degree. But soon, even this will be gone. The picture above is one that I took while standing at the fence.

The event was called God's Kingdom and Immigration, and was with a group called U40, you can find them on Facebook.

Some of the questions discussed were;

Is the border fence a good or bad thing? Is this an issue between two cities, two countries, or perhaps two kingdoms? Where should we stand on the issue?

One of the guest speakers, Marcos Mujica helped us navigate this conversation. Marcos is a graduate of Pt. Loma Nazarene University and is an insightful authority on the immigration issue from a kingdom perspective.

Throughout the day I heard about what God is doing in the city and the big highlight for me, is that we celebrated communion together. There was something powerful about having communion right there on "the land of in between" - the line that separates us in so many ways. I felt that God was there and pleased that we were discussing His kingdom and how all of us, no matter what side of the line we live on, are a part of it.

It was a good day.

border fence

Sophia came across this short but powerful 2.5 minute clip on the border fence right where we celebrated World Communion Sunday. It's definitely worth watching and offers a counter-intuitive response to dealing with long term immigration issues:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/oct/15/uselections2008-usimmigration-mikedavis

Cross border art and culture event

Looks like there's an interesting event going on in TJ on Sat, Sept 26th. It's an art exhibition in the “Colonia Federal” area of Tijuana, where artists have congregated to live and work. It's called the La Casa del Tunel: Art Center, and is decribed as "an international community center dedicated to promoting and facilitating borderless arts, culture and environmental investigation and awareness."

More info on it here. Anyone up for going?

La Posada Sin Fronteras

Also recently posted on the Eccelesia Collective blog, was a heads up about La Posada, on Dec 15th. I was actually in Mex that day, but couldn't swing my schedule to make it there (I was stuck on a 3 hour line to get back across the border), though it sounded like a very cool time. It's a traditional Mexican religious event, whereby they celebrate hospitality with a party, as there was no room for Mary and Joseph at the inn.

La Posada Sin Fronteras is a gathering that happens at Border Field State Park, at the border between San Diego and Tijuana. People from both sides of the border gather there, on both sides of the fence, for La Posada. This year, they honored all those that died crossing the border.

I stumbled across some photos of the event posted by Scott Bennet on Flickr. Check it out here.

border issues

I’m really getting eager to join these kinds of conversations! :

http://ecclesiacollective.org/neighborhood/theological-implications-of-border-issues

And the truth is, I would not even characterize my calling as a calling specifically to Latino people.  But for me, these conversations, these associations, these partnerships, and the acts of kindness and activism that ought to flow out of them, taps more into that essential vein of justice and mercy that is part of who we are at our core.  When I hear about these kinds of conversations, I hear a little of what N.T. Wright calls the “echo of justice” that all of us who follow Jesus are compelled to pursue until it’s heard more clearly.  And that’s a bigger, broader calling than a calling to any particular ethnic group.

When I think about moving to San Diego, I get excited about forming young leaders in a koinonia of friends fighting for justice and extending mercy.  I think that'll probably take us to the border and even way beyond it!