Refugees and the Pesky Law of Hospitality

I must confess that I am concerned about the Syrian refugee crisis. But perhaps not for the same reason as most. While this issue has become quite a political football, I think the issue of Syrian refugees is deeper than the rhetoric.

Many fear that allowing unvetted refugees into the country will put us at risk of terrorist attacks by hostile individuals pretending to be refugees. Perhaps so, but you can’t vet where there is no infrastructure to accomplish it. In my snarky sense of humor, I like to say that "vetting is for farm animals and family pets, not for people." While I am convinced that we, as followers of Jesus, need to be different and extend as much love and care to authentic refugees as we can, I am not convinced that bringing them to the USA is always the right step for them or for us. Setting aside national security concerns, it may still not be a good idea.

What about That Verse?

Ironically, a common Bible passage used to address the refugee crisis has nothing to do with refugees, but with resident aliens. Leviticus 19:33-34 says,

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Similarly, “sojourning” refers to a temporary stay, not to permanent immigration. Visitors should be treated as citizens, but this verse is not about refugees. There are better texts for that, including:

• The Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12);
• The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:22-37);
• The call of true religion to provide care for widows and orphans (Ex. 22:22; Deut. 10:18; 1:29; James 1:27); and,
• Passages about doing good (Matt. 5:16; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; Romans 2:9-11; 12:20-21; Galatians 6:9-10, etc.) and,
• Showing hospitality (e.g., 1 Peter 4:8-10; Romans 12:12-14).

^“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,

for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2)

Having said that, once refugees are settled in our country, we will need to treat them like we treat each other... or better than that. However, I am not convinced that we are prepared to do this.

What Then Should We Do?

We should begin to pray for the Holy Spirit to release a newfound love for those who have historically been considered enemies, and with it the wisdom we need to bring honor to Christ by serving the "least of these." Here are some of my suggestions for ways that we can help Middle-Eastern refugees, along with my concerns. You can judge for yourselves whether I prayed about it before sharing them.

1. We can support sacrificial relief efforts by the church in Turkey.

Why not support those who are helping in Turkey (as my colleague Mark Nicklas shared in his blog post, Refugees), where it is both geographically near and culturally similar to what they have left behind? There is no government assistance in Turkey; help comes from a marginalized church. It is the formerly Muslim converts to Christianity who are helping the refugees, and who, after exhausting their own resources, are willing to go door to door begging on behalf of the destitute. Are we willing to go to such lengths of sacrificial humility for refugees? Are we willing to help the helpers? I hope so.

2. We could use existing regional refugee camps more effectively.

While no one wants to live in a “camp”, perhaps they could still be used more intentionally with international resources to resettle refugees in Jordan and Saudi Arabia if they do not want to specifically assimilate into European or American cultures. To take someone who has already been brutally displaced, perhaps having lost family members to violence, and plop them down in a culture for which they are not prepared is not helpful and may, in fact, produce further marginalization. It seems this approach might better care for them and would take their preferences into consideration. If we could work for an acceptable peace in Syria within the next 1-3 years, this would be an even better option, but I doubt that the power players in the region have the will to do it.

3. We should prepare refugees for the culture shock of immigration.

In our pluralistic, politically correct, tolerance-oriented behavior, are we actually marginalizing immigrants by not teaching them our culture? Soon Ang and Linn Van Dyne, in Handbook of Cultural Intelligence (2008), suggest that we are doing just that, and caution those engaging with immigrants,

"When there is a large cultural distance, it is necessary to train immigrants to understand the consequences of their immigration, and to become somewhat culturally intelligent. In my opinion, it is irresponsible to give permanent visas to people who do not understand the local culture. It is also undesirable to use the "leave them alone" policy in "respecting" immigrant cultures. Immigrant cultures need to change, and people must become culturally intelligent or stay on the margins of society. People who are culturally intelligent zero in on aspects of culture that are different and respond appropriately."[1]

Suppose a refugee family wants to come to Europe or the USA, and we accept them. In that case, their cultural law of hospitality may lead them to believe that we, as the givers of hospitality, are responsible for providing for their needs on an ongoing basis. Are we really willing to send that message? One Oregon church has Iraqi refugees coming in every day seeking financial help. In our country, we have become used to institutionalizing assistance to the place where we now call them “entitlements”. However, this doesn’t relieve us of our responsibility and calling to care personally. We need to understand that we have very different views on hospitality. In the West, permanent house guests are not culturally appropriate except as fodder for late-night comedians.

4. We ought to ask refugees what they want and why they want it.

Even if we are prepared to accept refugees and mass migrants into our society, are they open to such a change in cultural values, or are they motivated by a false promise of affluence? Jesus asked Bartimaeus, the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” Doesn’t that seem like a “Captain Obvious” type of question? Of course, a blind man wants his sight restored…isn’t it that simple? No, not really. Bartimaeus was a beggar and likely had been one for quite some time. His cry to Jesus for mercy could merely be a request for a generous gift of alms (cash) to support himself in his current condition. Or it could be that he wanted Jesus to heal his eyes, but that would require him to stop being a beggar. He would have to get an education, work a job, etc. Was he willing to do all this? The question Jesus asked gave the blind man the chance to decide for himself whether he wanted to remain as he was or if he wanted to face the frightening responsibility of things being different. 

What does all this have to do with refugees? Two things: First, refugees should be told what they will face if they immigrate to America, and should be asked if they really want to move here, given our very different cultural values. Secondly, we need to honestly ask ourselves whether we are willing to be personally involved in their lives for the long haul, "to the end of the line" or not. 

5. We must be personally involved, no matter how scary it may be.

If we decide to allow refugees to come to America (and we will), we must be personally involved. That would be true hospitality indeed! How can we help?

• We can work to help them begin being educated about our culture (both values and systems) before they get here, so that they are not further marginalized once they arrive. Some of their culturally accepted behaviors will land them in prison here, just as some of our behaviors would land us in jail where they come from. We don’t want them to be ghettoized in addition to being transplant-traumatized already.
• We can specifically sponsor families (as families, small groups, or as whole churches) so that they have relational advocates to help them through the adjustment process. We can get involved on many levels, including helping them to learn English, teaching “culturally appropriate” driving skills, finding housing, navigating utility hookup issues, shopping, as well as helping with our healthcare and legal systems, etc. If help comes only through the government, it produces an institutional dependence that is more hurt than help. If help comes relationally through the love of Christ, then it will set the immigrant up to win, to be a contributing member of the community. 
• We can do our best to welcome them into our lives and allow them to teach us about their culture and invite them to make use of the gifts and talents which they bring with them…for the common good (Jeremiah 29:7).

If we are not willing to be personally involved with a refugee family over the long haul, then we should not bring them here. However, they are probably coming anyway, whether it is in their best interest or not, so how can we make the best of it for everyone involved?

Jesus shows us the way if we are bold enough to follow. Will we show ourselves to be the lambs or the wolves?

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. (Luke 10:2-3)

[i] Soon Ang and Linn Van Dyne, eds. Handbook of Cultural Intelligence: Theory, Measurement, and Applications (Armank, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2008), xii.

A Cultural Welcome Wagon?

It was 1970, and I remember that when we moved from the foreign country of California to the town in Oregon where I would grow up, we were visited by some ladies from the local “Welcome Wagon.” They brought a nice fruit basket, some words of welcome, and some advice as to good places to shop, doctors, dentists, and other professionals that were in the area. Apparently, the “Welcome Wagon” has been around since 1928, as their website explains, 

Welcome Wagon was founded in 1928 by an insightful marketing man in Memphis, Tennessee, Thomas Briggs. Mr. Briggs was inspired by stories of early Conestoga “welcome wagons” that would meet and greet westward travelers, providing fresh food and water for the journey. He created Welcome Wagon to embody this same spirit of warm hospitality and welcome. He hired "hostesses", women who were friendly and knowledgeable about their neighborhood, to personally deliver baskets of gifts supplied by local businesses to new homeowners. Over a cup of coffee, hostesses would tell new home buyers about local civic and cultural activities in the community while handing out gifts and coupons from local businesses. This hostess network expanded across the country until, aside from Briggs and just a handful of males, Welcome Wagon became one of the first all-woman companies in the US.

This business plan for this group found that by giving public service-type information, their representatives could move into giving coupons and plugging local businesses. It really was all about the money.

What if we, as Christian ambassadors, could set aside the commercialized approaches of merchants and mega-churches always looking for market share and program growth, and provide a different, more relational, and culturally helpful kind of welcome?

In my last post, I included a quote from Soon Ang and Linn Van Dyne’s Handbook of Cultural Intelligence: Theory, Measurement, and Applications that emphasized the importance of training immigrants in the rudimentary elements of the culture of the country to which they are moving. I will repeat the last part of it here: “Immigrant cultures need to change, and people must become culturally intelligent or stay in the margins of society. People who are culturally intelligent zero in on aspects of culture that are different and respond appropriately.”

This issue was brought home to me again as I was asking a friend of mine about her own experience as a refugee from Laos in UN-run camps in Thailand, and then in regards to her coming to the US in the 80s. I asked her what could have been done better, and I was surprised when she said the same thing as the Handbook of Cultural Intelligence. She said it would have been better to have someone explain some of the aspects and expectations of our culture before arriving here, when all the lessons come the hard way. In addition, no one explained that she could have attended high school when she came. She got a job and taught herself English working in a 7-11 Store. She was one of the feisty ones who seemed to be able to succeed despite the odds. 

Part of the problem is that we tend to have cultural myopia and think everyone thinks like we do and should behave the way that we do in our native culture. What seems strange to them may be normal to us and vice versa. We need to be able to talk through the potential points of friction before it starts a fire, seeking mutual understanding instead of sitting back and complaining.

What if we were intentional about not just teaching ESL classes, but actually engaging culturally with immigrants, teaching them our cultural “dance” so that they will not be sentenced to “stay in the margins of society” like economic and political wallflowers. At the same time, it would be helpful for us to learn about their culture as well, thus mutually benefiting each other. Revisiting the "Welcome Wagon" idea, what if we also shared the lay of the land, letting newcomers know where "locals" hang out--the best places to shop, eat, and get your car fixed--without any financial kickbacks? It might actually become a wonderful neighborhood!

Finally, there has been much written in criticism of America as a “melting pot” and how it tends to homogenize cultures into one bland bowl of porridge. I prefer to think of it as a pot of soup or stew where the flavor is enhanced and made richer by the inclusion and blending of many other cultural influences. However, for this to happen well, we must do better at welcoming the stranger that stands at our door and be involved, allowing them to become a friend, or perhaps family.