Christians try to worship with one voice at the U.S.-Mexico border in California

Worshipers in San Diego and Tijuana continue a 25-year tradition despite a larger separation

by Rich Copley | Presbyterian News Service

Worshipers took part in La Posada Sin Fronteras on the United States side of the U.S.-Mexico border at San Diego. (Photo by Walt Johnston)

LOUISVILLE — For 25 years, Christians have gathered at both sides of the United States and Mexico border at San Diego and Tijuana to re-enact Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus Christ in a service called La Posada Sin Fronteras.

But some things were different at this year’s edition, the 25^th, which included participation by ministers and members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Southern California, as well as representatives of the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries in Louisville.

“For many of these 25 years, this celebration was held across the border fence, where neighbors separated by national location could at least touch, exchange small gifts, and worship as one community,” Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Director Laurie Kraus said in an email recounting the Saturday service. “This year, two walls, a no man’s land patrolled by ICE and hundreds of additional feet of restricted space separated us.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the barrier was 60 feet wide and was put in place in November when the migrant caravan that has been traveling through Mexico from countries such as Honduras and Guatemala arrived at the southern border in in Tijuana.

Recalling previous Posada services where participants on both sides could be at the fence, the Rev. Heidi Worthen Gamble, Mission Advocate for the Presbytery of the Pacific, said, “It’s beautiful. You realize that the connection between communities is much more powerful than any wall.”

In many presentations of the La Posada service at the border and elsewhere, Mexican and United States citizens have worshiped together. But that was not possible with the additional barriers between the two parties.

A barrier added due to the arrival of the migrant caravan in Tijuana kept worshipers back from the border fence in San Diego. (Photo by Sara Lisherness)

“There was a yearning and a longing in the group,” said Sara Lisherness, director of the Compassion, Peace & Justice Ministries for the Presbyterian Mission Agency. “The Posada is kind of a playful event where they go door-to-door and there’s no room at the inn, no room at the inn, and finally there’s room and a celebration with food and a piñata and all of that.

“So it’s usually a fairly joyous celebration. But it was hard — you could hear on the other side the mariachi, and they were making a good effort. But on our side, it really felt like people’s hearts were breaking and as we sang ‘Silent Night,’ there was a bit of lamentation to it.”

Lisherness and Kraus went to the Southern California border at the invitation of representatives of the Presbytery of the Pacific, which has been working to help migrant families attempting to apply for asylum.

Gamble said the Pacific Presbytery’s efforts to support asylum seekers, along with the grassroots group Matthew 25, has included providing transportation, housing and food, as well as legal and educational resources. She also said that a lot of the hatred expressed toward asylum seekers was the product of misunderstandings and misconceptions in the media and political discourse about who they are, what they are doing, and what the United States’ role should be.

“These are people fleeing violence,” Gamble said. “They are asylum seekers. It is a myth that we can refuse them.”

Gamble got a little backing from federal judges in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., Wednesday, who ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to limit asylum claims. And the church has a history of standing with immigrants.

In 1990, responding to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the General Assembly of the PC(USA) stated  that any immigration policy must provide for human needs of refugees and immigrants, assure non-discriminatory humanitarian aid and applications of laws and policies, uphold full constitutional civil rights for refugees and immigrants, protect the lives of persons, combat vigorously any expression of racism either in policies or implementation, and uphold international standards and accords regarding the protection of refugees.

“At this point, immigration enforcement policies do not uphold any of these principles,” said Amanda Craft, Manager of Advocacy in the General Assembly Office of Immigration Issues.

It was inescapable to participants that the service was taking place against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and enhanced border security.

“How we are treating immigrants is deeply sinful, painful and cruel,” Gamble said. “We don’t think Jesus was kidding when he said that, ‘when you welcome the stranger, you welcome me.’ He identifies himself in that person.”

Lisherness said a striking, somber moment at the service was a reading of the names of the people who died making the journey to the border, and the number of women and unknown people among the deceased.

While the event may have taken place against a bitter political backdrop, Lisherness said the focus of participants was on the meaning of the moment and the fellowship — even if from a distance.

“This was not the activists of the world, though I am sure there were many activists involved,” Lisherness says. “People did this out of a deep yearning and a deep sense of a call to be faithful.

Laurie Kraus, director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and Sara Lisherness, director of Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries, on the United States side of the U.S.-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana. (Contributed photo)

“It was really prayerful. It was a deeply spiritual event, and that was the sole purpose of this: to bear witness as the body of Christ.”

Kraus recalled, “When the time came to sing the Posada song and end our gathering, neighbors from Mexico sang the part of Joseph, while those of us from the U.S. began with our refusal, finally yielding to a welcome.  There was little sense of call and response across the border, just the echoes of singing, out of sync somehow, as though straining for one voice, but prevented.

“Still, we sang, knowing that Advent hope, like justice, has a long arc in history, and if we keep faith with one another and with God, hope will not disappoint.”