Immigration - There is Room Enough For All!

Many of my students are from immigrant families, which may or may not be in the United States legally. Here is one take on the issue.

A dear friend of mine, who graduated with a doctorate from Columbia, who ran the elections in El Salvador, who counts the cities of Berlin and Boston as clients and who spent 30 years in Manhattan, tells of his father, a farmer from West Virginia, who when friends, or missionaries, or strangers came to eat at his home, would say in faith: Throw another potato in the oven; there's room enough for all!

We need to read Isaiah 54 very carefully; and we shall see this so-called "immigration problem" in a new light.

"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes..." We are to make room under the pavillion of the Lord for all who would come here to seek refuge from the sun. Are there families who can't fit under the tent? Then, lengthen the cords and add more curtain; make way for the new comer.

And when these immigrants come, they will be so many that they will "break forth on the right hand and on the left," spilling out of the tent. Then, add to the tent; let them come! We Gentiles who have a dearth of births will dwindle, and our cities shall begin to be desolate and uninhabitated. Therefore, the immigrants who come will make up the lack. "Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited."

My dear brothers, you and your families are welcome at the table; there is room enough for all! Come in from the sun of Oppression! Come and rest under this Tent of Liberty - this land, this Constitution! We shall enlarge the place of the tent! We shall stretch forth the curtains of our habitations; we'll lengthen the cords! There is room enough for you all, at this table, under this tent - this Pavillion of Our Lord!

Throw another potato in the oven; there is room enough for all!