FEAR NOT and CANDLES

FEAR NOT ... those words of the angels to Mary seem comforting just like the words and prayers we heard in Spanish a week ago. We went to be part of a candlelight VIGIL for solidarity in our community after the traumatic raids of Latino people at the SWIFT plant here in our town over a week ago now.

On that Tuesday, 261 persons were taken from their workplace and sent in buses to Iowa where they would be detained and then deported if they did not have the right documentation on them. If they did have it or could get it, then they had no way to get back to our town. Some churches responded by sending a van to get people to help them.

Families were literally torn apart that day as children were at school and now their parents were being taken away without any time for preparations or for even gathering their documentation. In other towns this same thing was happening and the photos of children in the news told the story.

So we decided to attend the vigil held from 6 to 8 PM on a Sunday night a week ago at St Mary's cathedral parking lot in the cold Christmastime night..... and to bring candles. Who would understand more than Mary the mother of Jesus about not being afraid or scared?

People came quietly with candles or to find ones there in large sacks that Sunday night. People came together quietly and wondering what could be said to comfort anyone there. A makeshift platform on the back of a pickup truck became the stage in this vast parking lot between the cathedral and the parish hall. We were exposed to the elements and reminded of our vulnerability but yet the need to come together publically and not hiding in our church buildings.

Various pastors from the Hispanic community in Grand Island started in with prayers loudly in Spanish, poured out their hearts in Spanish, sang songs and prayed more..... several were very emotional and many waved their Bibles into the night air talking to God almost as if it was somehow a comfort to the people to have it to wave as a symbol to comfort the people along with the candles, the scriptures read aloud and songs sung from the heart.

There seemed to be sadness everywhere in the group of about 200 people, children, families all huddled together around the pickup and guitar players as the prayers went UP to God in all languages and all faiths to FEAR NOT and to COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE....... and to just be there with us.

The candles seemed to bring warmth to the bitterly cold Christmastime night and comfort us more than usual. And to think that families were separated at Christmas in December was just breaking everyone's heart there that night. Families just trying to make a better life for their children.

How could they do this raid on the Hispanic day of the family and at Christmas which is a time for families to gather and celebrate? It all seemed like a plan to disrupt and induce FEAR and then we went back to the night air, the prayers and the people to FEAR NOT and to bring Comfort for each other and candles as a symbol of God being with us!

For two hours the prayers, songs and scripture went UP to the night sky from pastors in Spanish, from priests in Spanish and from a nun who also translated into English. We all held our candles high, relit them when they went out and heard the sadness, anger and pain of others mostly. Fear not and comfort all the people........ God be with us in all faith journeys in all the many different ways people express their spiritual lives.

Hear our prayers for all these families and for those who are AFRAID. Coming together was important this night and will continue to be important as people find ways to respond through actions. I saw eight people from our community of faith giving comfort by coming and lighting a candle as a sign of hope for all the people. It was good to see familiar faces from our community and to also see many strangers. Just coming together seemed to be a way of crying out together to God in the cold night and to be a part of these prayers of anguish and pain for all families and persons affected by separation into the future.

Here is my candle of HOPE for a world that welcomes all strangers just as my ancestors were welcomed from Sweden and Germany.... and to remember that families need to be together to make life better for all and as the fabric of many faiths....... and to find new ways to WELCOME each other into our communities and lives. And to be with those trying to find their way now.

A Hispanic woman who I do not know came up to me as I blew out my candle. She shook my hand and said, "THANK YOU FOR COMING." She comforted me. She knows how to welcome the stranger and comfort all the people so they will not be afraid........ in places of our anxious world. Once again the people in the most pain know how to WELCOME the best!