Why are you here? From accompaniment to advocacy

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)

Over the next few weeks, ELCA Advocacy will share reflections from seminarians at Gettysburg Seminary who traveled to Honduras earlier this year in order to connect and better understand the conditions driving so many to leave their communities in Central America. Each entry highlights something the author learned when they met with individuals from communities the ELCA accompanies or is in relationship with.

We hope these reflections shed light on the power of walking and advocating alongside affected communities. We thank Gettysburg Seminary and all who shared their stories with us. Please visit our ELCA Advocacy blog to read more and check back each week for new stories.

¿Por qué están aquí? Why are you here?

By Chris Schaefer, Gettysburg Seminary

On our first full day of travel in Honduras, we had the opportunity to visit with a small Lutheran community that gathered regularly at a home in [a small village]. While there, several gentlemen shared their stories of attempts to migrate north to Mexico and the United States. They demonstrated great candor in relating many of the trials, hardships, and set-backs they had experienced before leaving their families and friends behind… After the gentlemen wrapped up their accounts, a patriarch of the village stood up and asked our group, “¿Por qué están aquí?” or, “Why are you here?”

He continued by expressing some confusion as to our purpose because after all of the questions and answers exchanged between our groups he was still unsure why we would come all this way to ask about information that we already knew, particularly regarding why folks were migrating and what faced them on their journeys. Many of us had to admit that we were actually fairly ignorant about the causes of the immigration crisis… The patriarch’s question struck a chord with me, though, and forced me to reexamine my reasoning in accompanying this group, as well as why our group was there as a whole…

The staggering statistics that surround these stories are often too vast to comprehend and fully internalize, but the story of an individual allows and enables us to see the faces of our neighbors and better live out our calling as Christians to love and care for all of our neighbors, regardless of whether they live right next door or in a country far from our home.

Click here to read more! To see Chris talk about his time in Honduras, click here!

ELCA Advocacy continues to engage with governments in the U.S. and Central America, as well as with Lutherans throughout the Americas and bear witness to the conditions affecting so many who are forced to flee their homes. Together, we can work to find solutions that acknowledge the humanity in all of God’s children.

Visit elca.org/AMMPARO to learn about the ELCA’s commitment to accompany children today and in the future.

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