Honest Resistance: We Stand with Our Brothers and Sisters

As you know, I am away on vacation this week. 
Rather than write you a letter this week, I want to forward you a letter from the Office of Public Witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  Below is an excerpt from their article "We stand with our immigrant brothers and sisters!" published on June 23, 2025.  You can read the article in it's entirety here. 

"Presbyterians are called to a response due to our history of speaking against government overreach. We have a long history of calling for resistance to any laws or commands that contradict God’s word. Our policy reflects this belief as for centuries we have maintained the belief in being lawful citizens but have also acknowledged that there comes a time for resistance against tyranny. Our policy statement, “Honest Patriotism,” supplies theological and contextual grounding: “The 223rd General Assembly (2018) acts to lift up our church’s long commitments to active civic engagement, responsible citizenship, and prophetic witness; believing these commitments to be rooted in our faithful response to God’s call for Christians to be stewards of creation; and witnessing the corrosion of democratic institutions.”

The witness of the church has manifested as many, diverse PC(USA) Presbyterians, members and leaders in all expressions of the denomination, including General Assembly agency staff, have spoken out against federal overreach. We unequivocally condemn the separation of families and the unlawful deportation of fathers, mothers, and children. We condemn the use of the National Guard and Marines on the streets of L.A. as if we were at war. We have rallied with our ecumenical siblings in a series of rallies sponsored by Repairers of the Breach and Sojourners.

Therefore, we call Presbyterians to steadfast prayer. Everything we do as people of faith begins and ends with prayer. God is the ultimate deliverer of justice and calls us to join in God’s bringing about the Beloved Community. We seek to discern God’s will for the nation and to ask for peaceful and diplomatic solutions to our problems.

We call Presbyterians to disciples in action by:

• Participating in peaceful protest by joining rallies, marches, petitions, lawsuits; lobbying legislators and other actions of justice advocacy all around us.
• Connecting with the advocacy offices (Washington Office of Public Witness and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations) to be updated on what’s happening in the nation’s capital and United Nations and ways you can engage.
• Joining local efforts to raise a prophetic voice as almost every community is increasing its activity. Write letters to your local newspapers and utilize social media to decry the oppression occurring. Support local institutions (schools, churches, immigrant centers) that are under attack.
• Calling upon military leaders to make a moral decision to refuse to comply with immoral, and even unlawful, orders from a commander-in-chief who has no regard for legality or morality.
• Contacting your state and national representatives and tell your story as it relates to justice for immigrants. Share your faith and passion that America is a land that treats all with fairness and consistent kindness. Urge that they be courageous in their defense of the nation’s core values to respect dissent and respect the dignity of all persons.

We call upon you to exercise your freedom of conscience. You have the freedom to decide how God is leading you to stand during this period of political and societal chaos. The choice is not whether we will defend our democracy and our immigrant brothers and sisters, but how. Each one of us must choose to stand with those whose rights are being trampled upon by persons who respect only those they consider worthy.

This is not the way of our God who is impartial and just toward all, a God who left us the timeless charge in scripture to defend the stranger, the foreigner, the migrant, the immigrant and the refugee. “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.” (Genesis 18:2, 19:1; Exodus 12:49, 22:21, 23:9; Leviticus 19:9-10, 33-34, 23:22, 24:22, 25:35-38; Numbers 9:14, 15:16; Deuteronomy 1:16, 10:18-19, 23:7, 24:14,19-21, 26:5,12-13, 27:19; Job 31:32; Psalm 146:9; Proverbs 5:10; Jeremiah 7:5-7, 22:3; Ezekiel 22:29, 47:22-23, Malachi 3:5; Matthew 25:31-46, 22:29; Luke 10:25-37; Hebrews 13:1-2).
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Blessings to you all. See you on Sunday. 
Pastor Chris