Hoooooowdy and Happy Monday from Literacy Connexus everyone! We hope that you are all doing well, and staying happy and healthy.
WHEW! Is this fall busy or what? It seems between conferences, symposiums, a global pandemic, our churches, homes, and classrooms this fall has been a whirlwind.
Literacy Connexus is still busier than a bee, working to make sure that we can be of service to our communities, churches, teachers, and anyone with a literacy need across the great state of Texas.
Speaking of our communities and our churches, there are many refugees coming into the the metroplex this year that are in need of our help and our support. You may have seen me mention it a time or two (or probably five) by now.
Last week I wrote about what it means to be a refugee, or an asylum seeker and what we can do to help. Today, I’d like to talk about it from a different perspective. If the book of Ruth were set in the U.S., would she be let in at the border as an asylum seeker?
Almost certainly not.
Ruth was an economic migrant. She wouldn’t qualify as a “refugee” based on the current definition of the word since she left her home because of famine, lack of jobs, and widowhood.
As a woman, Ruth likely had no education, so she wouldn’t be able to participate in the U.S.’s diversity visa lottery–you need a high school diploma for that.
And Ruth couldn’t be sponsored as a family-based migrant. Her only family member from Bethlehem, Naomi, was her mother-in-law, and US citizens today may only sponsor their spouse, parents, children, or siblings (and even then, the wait times can be up to 25 years).
It’s possible that Ruth could obtain a temporary work visa, but only a small number of those are given out each year, and usually to highly-skilled workers.
Today, Ruth would be turned away at the border to return to Moab alone and with no means of supporting herself. And Judah would have missed out on generations of blessings because of it.
I know that these are different times, but the relevance of the word in today’s world is uncanny. Isn’t it wild to think about Ruth being turned away from our border and sent home?
Now of course there was only one Ruth, but Ruth’s story is the story of many immigrants. As we continue to serve our communities and our ministries by spreading our faith and the empowering others with literacy, it is important to remember the blessings that are immigrants. And, what a blessing it is to serve them.
As always, blessings and happy teaching! Tune in on Friday for an ESL classroom activity idea (or three!).
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