Welcome, We’re Glad You’re Here!
How to live out what we say every Sunday.
The year was 2007 when Burhan and Rima entered into marriage after spending the last five years together through what the western world would call ‘dating’. Initially, Rima’s parents had had some questions about Burhan’s character and work ethic, so they told Burhan to educate himself and find a well-paying job in the area before they would give him their daughter’s hand in marriage. As a Muslim, Burhan learned about the encouragement to marry from Allah’s Prophet, “ Young men, whoever among you is able to marry, let him get married, for this is better for lowering the gaze and guarding the chastity” [1]. Burhan took this call from Allah’s Prophet seriously and committed himself to education and finding a well-paying job. Burhan was able to work himself up in the industrial sector and eventually become a financial advisor for Rashtan Co., a cementing company stationed in Homs, Syria. Finally, in 2007, after 3 years of schooling, and 2 years of working himself up in the company, Rima’s father told Burhan that he could marry his daughter. The wedding ceremony was in Homs. It was a wonderful time of celebrating with many family members and friends.
After their honeymoon, Burhan and Rima settled in a small house in one of the more well-to-do areas of Homs, not far from where Rima’s parents lived. For the first 4 years, things were going great. Rashtan Co. was financially peaking and many people within the company identified Burhan and his keen insight for this success. Back at home, Burhan and Rima had welcomed the birth of their first son, Jamal. Rima’s parents were just enthralled by this little creature and frequently could be found over at Burhan and Rima’s house, taking turns playing with their first grandson.
2011 changed everything for Burhan and his little family. The Arab Spring protests that was affecting multiple countries in the Middle East, now finally reached Syria and the results of it were not pretty. In March, protesters marched into Damascus demanding more democracy and the release of several political prisoners. The Syrian government’s response was to open fire against its own people as an attempt to demonstrate their absolute authority over the people of Syria. Some of Burhan’s coworkers at Rashtan Co. who were stationed in Damascus were relocated to a safer place for the time being. In early November, the situation in Homs escalated. “After six days of bombardment, the Syrian Army stormed the city on November 8th, leading to heavy street fighting in several neighborhoods” [2]. By the end of the week, the devastating results of the bombardments were slowly starting to show. Thankfully, Burhan and his family were just out of the city during this time as they were visiting his side of the family, but when they came back, they were confronted with the heart-wrenching fact that Rima’s parents had not survived the bombings. Slowly but surely, the reality of this truth began to sink into the hearts of Burhan and Rima, Homs had been permanently changed. The Homs they knew and loved before they departed on their trip to visit Burhan’s family, would never exist again. Six days of bombing had left an unalterable mark on the city.
By some miracle, Burhan and Rima’s house was still standing, but just a quick glance was enough to conclude that it was not safe to live in anymore. Fires were starting, and debris was all over the place. Burhan was faced with a decision that would permanently change his future plans and family legacy: He could either stay in the city and wait for more bombings to come without being able to secure the safety of his wife and son, or he would have to flee with Rima and Jamal, but without any of their possessions, it simply was too unsafe to go into their house.
Burhan looked at Rima, and Rima looked at Burhan, and in that moment Burhan realized that all that he had worked for since 2007 was about to vanish. “We need to go”, Burhan whispered to Rima as she was hugging Jamal who had begun to cry. Rima looked back at Burhan and said,“will we ever be able to come back home?” “Only Allah knows”, Burhan replied as he picked up Jamal and put him on his back. Then they started walking.
As Burhan woke up to the sounds of cars and trucks driving by, he-just like every other morning- had to remind himself of where he was. He got out of bed and turned on the TV to check up on the news. CNN’s Jim Acosta was informing the world on the ban that Donald Trump issued, which barred citizens of 7 countries in the Middle East to enter the United States for a limited period of time. As Acosta was mentioning the countries, Burhan felt himself getting more confused and frustrated by the second. “Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen”, Burhan sat down in the nearest chair as Acosta continued, “Irak, Iran, and Syria”. As Jim Acosta was commenting on this “tense political issue”, Burhan’s mind started to wander back to the story of his own migration. He thought of how they got to Lebanon after a couple days of walking, and of how malnourished Jamal had become in the refugee camp as they sought for asylum in any western country. Burhan’s mind went back to the time when he would wake up in the refugee camp and hear nothing but crying children.He thought of how Jamal had slowly but surely recovered from his weak state, and, that by the end of their 1-year stay in the refugee camp, Jamal had made several friends there. His thoughts went back to the day when he received the news that the United States had read and approved their papers and that he and his family were welcome to the United States. He thought about the time that when they first opened the door to their new apartment in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, they found a care package waiting for them from the church around the corner.
Burhan counted himself fortunate that he made the decision to flee before the crisis in the Middle-East hit its climax and the process went much slower and much less people were getting accepted into the United States.
Burhan turned of the TV, and while a million questions were going through his mind, he got ready to go to his breakfast meeting with the pastor of the same church that had given him and his family that care package a few years ago. He had been meeting with this pastor for 2 years now, and he did not understand all of Christianity yet, he was still a Muslim. But he did experience Christians to be the most welcoming people he had ever met on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, and he wanted to learn more about Jesus. Something about Jesus intrigued Burhan, and he was starting to ask more questions and become more interested.
This is a fictional story that contains some elements of truth, but what if we actually lived out what we say to our congregations every Sunday during our time of greeting? What if we were truly glad to welcome every person to our churches, even they’re from a Middle-Eastern country?
The Church of Jesus Christ has the opportunity to live out the Great Commission by welcoming the foreigner among us. By doing small things like picking up a refugee family from the airport, collecting basic care items for them, or even setting up an apartment for an arriving family, we can demonstrate God’s love.
In my opinion, the western Church desperately needs this refugee crisis. We need this so that we might be challenged to return to the Gospel because we can only welcome those who come to our borders because of the radical, unconditional love that God has shown us in welcoming us into His family of grace. The Gospel involves giving from what we have received. We have received mercy, grace, a community of brothers and sisters, and an eternal home. We must be compelled to give. We as the Church must pray for more Burhan’s, Rima’s, and Jamal’s to welcome.
