I suspect that, despite their best efforts, the House of Bishops finds it hard to agree on very much. So it was pleasing to see its joint letter this week condemning the Government’s deportations to Rwanda.
But you don’t of course have to be a Christian to deplore this policy. It is bad on its own terms: there is little evidence to suggest that it will materially slow down dangerous Channel crossings. It is bad for international relations: for those of us who nostalgically cling to a rules-based global order, it seems to breach long-standing treaty obligations. It is deeply cynical: if the Government’s true goal was to stop unsafe crossings, they could simply allow people to travel by plane or ferry and process their claims on arrival. It seeks to crush one of the most inspiring traits of migration: to refuse to be content with the hand fate has dealt. This much we know.
However, the policy’s most profound wrong is this: other people are not problems to be outsourced but gifts to be cherished. At the dawn of time, God recognised that it was not good for us to be alone. Our true personhood, in the image of the triune God, is found in community. Some tell us to fear that there’s not enough room, or that our straining public services cannot cope. But we are called to follow Jesus, who in the Incarnation gave up eternity to draw us into true relationship. Maybe those who have risked everything for a new start might be able to teach us something about him.
At St Martin’s, we know this to be so. Those who come from the edge – from our Sunday International Group for sure, but those many other folk who enrich our church in myriad other ways – are those who become the beating heart of our community. They are the agents of the Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life. They build us into God’s image, and help us grow into true life.
On Monday 20 June, St Martin’s will host the London Churches Refugee Fund Annual Speaker Meeting. Please come if you can. Our lives depend on it.
Chris Braganza
