Friday November 7, 2014 had arrived and after a breakfast at
a nearby hotel from the Shalom House, it was finally time for Bob and Carol and myself to
meet the rest of the posse. Slowly but surely we all arrive at the Frontera de Cristo headquarters in Douglas, Arizona. The process of trying to feel each
other out had begun. Chairs were arranged in a circle with our “Border to
Border: Coffee, Migration and Faith” booklet in the seats with our names listed
in the bottom right-hand corner of the booklet. I found mine and sat down as we prepared for
biblical reflection. The passage for the day was Ephesians 2: 1-22. Verses 14- 18
stuck out to me the most:
14 For Christ himself is our peace, who has made the two one
and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing
in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. Christ purpose was
to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and
in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which
he put to death their hostility. 17 Christ came and preached peace to you who
were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through Christ we both
have access to the Father by one Spirit.
I love how Paul explains how Christ has made peace and
destroyed the barriers and dividing walls of hostility. Our Lord and Savior
makes peace, creating a new humanity out of what once was two. This word of God
hits so hard.
After the
introductions and reflections we hopped in the van and do not stop until we
approached one of the largest (and ugliest) fences I have ever seen.
It was time for the
border infrastructure tour. Taking into consideration the passage we just
reflected on, this border infrastructure presented itself as a stark contrast
to Paul’s words. Having realized this, I was immediately struck with sorrow.
We climbed out of the van and were able to see that the fence
extended as far as the eye could see in both directions.
We also quickly became
aware of the border patrol officer with the large border patrol suburban and
his machine gun, watching us intently.
About every 200 to 300 yards, a tall pole towered out of the
ground with several cameras on the top. As we drove towards the hills I looked
through the gaps on the fence and saw a town on the other side which I later
discovered was Agua Prieta. It didn’t look too much different than the side we
were on, but someone felt it was necessary to spend millions of dollars for
this barrier of a fence.
Our plan was to drive up the large hill but, officers on
the U.S. and Mexico side had stop on the road to talk so we stayed at the end
of the fence.
Mark Adams asked us to walk up and touch the fences. As we were
holding on to it he read the passage to us and asked us to repeat after him. In
unison we chanted, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have
been brought near through the blood of Christ… For Christ himself is our peace,
who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of
hostility… Christ purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the
two, thus making peace and in his one body to reconcile both of them to God
through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility…” We continued
through the rest of our passage.
“My goodness, that was powerful,” I thought to myself. There was something that appeared to be freakishly wrong as we reflected on Scripture and stood by the fence.
We
climb back in the van all awestruck from our experience and the obvious
presence of the divine in the reading of Scripture. We then ate at another
wonderful Mexican restaurant and prepared to visit the U.S. Border Patrol
headquarters.
So now we head to the place where it is the Border patrol government workers duty to ensure that “outsiders” are not successful in their attempt to
cross into the U.S. What will that be like?
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