Padre Complex

Last year I wrote a paper for my DMin program looking at reading the Bible contextually for the purpose of mission and ministry. I found Paul’s letter to Philemon to be an interesting discussion of welcoming a brother with a different social class in the church. Sadly many of our churches are bound by particular social and economic classes. It is still true to say today that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week. It is also true to think about economic issues. I have often heard the joke “What’s the difference between the Methodist church and the Episcopalian church?” A Mercedes, a Jaguar and two Beamers.

So what are affluent, white, church goers supposed to think and do regarding immigration? Maybe a coherent answer is - read Philemon.

The paper is long. I have broken it into segments and posted them as pages outside of the weblog chronology.

1. Looking at the Text: Immigration and Philemon
2. Context of Immigration and Oppression
3. What’s globalism got to do with it?
4. Migration as a Journey
5. Lo Cotidiano
6. An answer to the Question

Feel free to make comments here. And feel free to email me at Peter_Cammarano@hotmail.com

For those of you like me — here are a few excerpts …

Although globalism continues to be promoted in the West as a ’savior for economic markets,’ across the world the reality is that it has commodified the lives of third world laborers and left them at a disadvantage. Hispanics experience the paradox of globalism where they find that their money is permitted to go places they would never be allowed to travel to or to live. Globalism is an Orwellian term that has begun to stand for the opposite of what it means. Instead of uniting the world and creating a better world for all — globalism has erected barriers to separate the rich from the poor. Nestor Miguez notes that “while the capitalist world rejoiced with the falling of the Berlin Wall, and claimed it as a sign of the triumph of liberty and democracy, it is building other walls not only symbolic but physical as well along the borders of rich and poor countries.” We would be remiss if we did not note the stepped up border patrols of both the government and citizens along the U.S. Mexico border and the further separation and alienation that is being instituted.

or…

How do we bring the text and the context to bear on one another? The persuasive words of Paul in his letter to Philemon speak of ‘family’ and his ‘heart’ being a part of the born again slave Onesimus. He alludes in an ambiguous way about Onesimus becoming more than a slave – a beloved brother. How do we read that text within our context of a segregated church in South Central Texas. The United Methodist church admits to doing a poor job of creating Hispanic churches or forming Hispanic pastors. Their efforts have borne little fruit and leave the church in a peculiar stance of resembling Philemon. A man who has lost a slave and now needs to understand a new relationship in the faith family.

As I have shown through the statistics of the U.S. Census Bureau, Mexican Americans are not enjoying an equal status in the life of the faith family. They are not just absent from the table – but most likely they are serving, cleaning up, and washing dishes for those of us sitting at the table – while we eat bland Americanized versions of their dishes marketed by major restaurant corporations for large profit margins. It is hard to learn about your lost brother if you and he move in separate circles. An invisible brother is no brother at all. Harold Recinos reminds us that “American Methodism must give up its privileged life for the sake of the crucified through whom it gains life.” He reminds us also that the poor were the grass roots communities that nourished “the evangelical drive of Wesley and the early Methodist movement.” To borrow from Revelation – we have lost our first love. To paraphrase from Paul in his letter to Philemon – we have not refreshed the hearts of all the saints. Until we identify with Paul’s careful consideration of status and family from his letter to Philemon we will find ourselves isolated from our Hispanic brothers and sisters in Christ.