On the Immigration Front with Mark Galli

On the Immigration Front

Lots of furor and anxiety at the border these days. Here are three pieces that came my way that give perspective on immigration and refugee issues. The first comes from the New York Times’s editorial page, which I seldom find myself in agreement with. But I give them credit for recognizing that “All Presidents Are Deporters in Chief: They all have to make hard choices about immigration.” They go on to criticize Donald Trump’s approach, as expected, but I appreciated their willingness to put this heated debate in historical context. Next is a piece by Philip Yancey, who in characteristic fashion paints a moving portrait of “A Refugee Haven” he visited in Beirut. We’re not the only nation with an immigration/refugee crisis. We do well to see how other nations handle the unanticipated influx of migrants. Finally, something close to home. Durmomo Gary works with my wife at the local World Relief office. He wrote his story for a local outlet, about his coming to America: “I was persecuted in Sudan for being a Christian, but America welcomed me.” Going to the Moon Here are two blasts from the past regarding the moon landing of July 20, 1969. One is a 2005 60 Minutes segment profiling Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. The second is a piece in Christianity Today, going way back to 1958, when CT queried 25 “distinguished leaders” on how going to the moon might affect Christian faith. Among others asked were Karl Barth, F. F. Bruce, C. S. Lewis, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Carl Henry, among others. Elusive Preaching This week’s installment of The Elusive Presence series looks at the way we do preaching today, arguing that in too many evangelical churches, the sermon is “delivered in standup comic style, does an extraordinarily good job of entertaining people and making the preacher, and not the preached word, the center of attention.” But I’m not merely a grouch (though I am that); I also offer some prescriptions for this homiletic illness. Wendell Berry on Parenting Berry is one of those writers whose prophetic announcements can ring oh-so-true until you examine them word for word. You sometimes realize that it is the beauty of his writing and his effective use of rhetoric that are winning the day more than his argument. And that’s okay, because there is a place for beautiful writing. And then there are Berry moments when he perceived some reality that makes one’s mouth drop open in wonder about why we didn’t see that before. At any rate, I’ve read his essays and a couple of novels to good ends. Here’s a profile that includes some of Berry’s ruminations on the topic noted above. ‘How to Sit in a Chair’ That is the title of this week’s light video, a terrific spoof on modernity, in which every skill is said to need an expert. Grace and peace, Mark Galli Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today