Prayer from tonight's Interfaith Vigil in Solidarity with Migrants

 Aloha! 

Tonight I had my first moment of public theological agitation in Honolulu. I was asked to offer a prayer at an Interfaith Vigil in Solidarity with Migrants, organized by Faith Action Hawai'i. 

I offered a little speech to introduce myself, and my UCC tradition, and then offered a prayer for those who are helping migrants. For the sake of tonight's vigil, "migrants" includes also refugees and COFA residents (COFA = Compacts of Free Association, an agreement with the US and Micronesia that people from Micronesia can come and go, and live in the US, at will - which Compacts the Trump administration is very much disregarding, putting yet another nail in the coffin for the trustability of the US). We had a decent-sized gathering - maybe 80-100 people. We were on a main boulevard (outside the ICE offices at Waterfront Plaza which is on Ala Moana Boulevard), and in the 1.5 hours we were there, we had a LOT of honks - LOTS of them! - in support, and only one pro-Trump protestor against us.

Here is what I said: 

Aloha!

I am Pastor David Huber, 

    ordained clergy in the United Church of Christ,

    thank you for allowing me to be part of this vigil.

     The way we treat migrants is one of the most significant

        indicators of our morality, and we as a nation are doing very poorly.

     I like to be a public witness for a brand of Christianity 

          that does not fear, demean, or dehumanize others.

          There really are churches and Christians in this country

               who are on the side of the poor and the oppressed.

[I went off script here to mention that I'd recently moved here from Wisconsin, and talked about the WI Conference UCC repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery and that WI has started doing land acknowledgments and trying to heal wounds with the first nation peoples, and also that in the city of Eau Claire, where I have just come from, we have a large Hmong population - people who helped the US during the Vietnam War and were offered refuge in the US - and how scared that community became as soon as Trump's anti-immigrant policies came into being. Then I went back on script:]

In the United Church of Christ, 

   we just had our national gathering that we do every two years,

    and one of our resolutions includes this:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Thirty-Fifth General Synod of the United Church of Christ calls upon all settings of the Church to oppose the 2025 Trump Administration’s immigration policies and condemn and reject ANY policies or actions that deny sanctuary, access to services, or human dignity to migrants, immigrants, refugees, and BIPOC individuals. 

And another line a little later mentioning also support of Micronesia and speaking out against how the Compacts of Free Association are being violated. We have Micronesian youth in our churches who could lose their parents. What the hell? This is an abomination, and more of the antichrist than of Jesus. 

It's impossible to be illegal on stolen land.

Let us now pray for those who work to support migrants:

   Holy One, God of all people, with a special preference

     for the poor and the migrants, 

      for your own family were refugees once,

          we lift up in prayer all of your people 

          who struggle to change our bad migration policies,

            and all those who work with the people 

               those policies have hurt and are hurting;

       we pray for the lawyers, the justice workers, the fundraisers,

           the chaplains, the prophets, the government workers,

         who are helping to ensure that migrants are treated fairly,

          who ensure that migrants know their rights

                and ensure the government protects those rights;

           the supporters who do this work even 

              at the risk of their own safety

             as they face backlash from neighbors, or employers,

               or even our own government.

         Protect them and their families, watch over them,  

           as they work to protect those who have little power;

          Protect and strengthen all who have joined the struggle

                on behalf of the least of these,

                for by helping them, they are helping you.

    And may their dedication to justice and to what is right

      inspire us all to similar selfless acts of courage and love

        on behalf of our neighbors. Amen.