A Pastor’s Thoughts: Where Are You From?

By Pastor Bruce Gillette, parish associate pastor, First Presbyterian Union Church – Owego —

Do you know your family’s history? My last name is French; it is a personal reminder of a Huguenot (French Protestant) pastor who fled religious persecution in his homeland with his two young sons and came to the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1630. I used to have bright red hair, which was a reminder of my ancestors from Scotland (Robertson and Scot clans) and a woman named Bridget O’Byrne from Ireland who came here during the 19th century potato famine. 

This year our nation has the unusual historical note that the two presidential candidates have strong connections to immigrants. Former President Donald Trump’s current wife is from Slovenia. Vice President Kamala Harris’ mother came from India and her father, of African descent, came from Jamaica.   

In this political season, we hope people will not attack immigrants, because we are all part of God’s family.

Jose Luis Casal is a Presbyterian who emigrated from communist Cuba and has served as a pastor, and as a regional, national and ecumenical leader. He wrote “The Immigrant’s Creed” as a creative retelling of “The Apostles’ Creed” from the experience of an immigrant:

I believe in Almighty God, who guided the people in exile and in exodus, the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, the God of foreigners and immigrants.

I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galilean, who was born away from his people and his home, who fled his country with his parents when his life was in danger, and returning to his own country suffered the oppression of the tyrant Pontius Pilate, the servant of a foreign power, who then was persecuted, beaten, and finally tortured, accused and condemned to death unjustly.

But on the third day, this scorned Jesus rose from the dead, not as a foreigner but to offer us citizenship in heaven.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the eternal immigrant from God’s kingdom among us, who speaks all languages, lives in all countries, and reunites all races.

I believe that the church is the secure home for the foreigner and for all believers who constitute it, who speak the same language and have the same purpose.

I believe that the communion of the saints begins when we accept the diversity of the saints.

I believe in the forgiveness of sin, which makes us all equal, and in reconciliation, which identifies us more than does race, language, or nationality.

I believe that in the resurrection God will unite us as one people in which all are distinct and all are alike at the same time.

Beyond this world, I believe in life eternal in which no one will be an immigrant but all will be citizens of God’s kingdom, which will never end. Amen.

(Bruce Gillette is the parish associate pastor of First Presbyterian Union Church in Owego.)