A recent UMCMission.org article entitled “Low-WageWorkers Seek Moral, Livable Wages,” explores the plight of immigrant workers
who are abused by an economic system that exploits their labor and does not pay
them a fair salary with benefits.The
article is written from the perspective of an Anglo US-2 working with Interfaith
Worker Justice. The article grows awareness as it argues for a significant
increase in the federal minimum wage and immigration reform.
For my part, I have enjoyed close relationships with
marginal peoples from various Spanish speaking nations, including working for a
local Spanish newspaper while in high school, pastoring a Cuban refugee camp in
Panama in 1994 through 1995 (see “Religious Community in a Cuban Refugee Camp:
Bringing Order out of Chaos,” in Missiology
25, no 2 [1997]:141-154), and organizing a flourishing ministry with Mexican
immigrants while serving a church in the Florida Conference from 1998 through
2001 (see American Methodism, Past and
Future Growth. Emeth Press 2013, p. ix-xiv). That ministry included nightly
services, Sunday school, evening meals, an evangelism team, and community based
ministries. It did not include social advocacy.
I wanted to advocate for my Mexican parishioners. In
fact, I shared this concern with a lawyer who worked with our Hispanic Ministry
Team. However, when she spoke to the leaders of the Mexican ministry, they told
her that they did not want or need our help. I was appalled. Of course they
needed our help. I pushed the social justice issue with righteous indignation. After
all, most worked in low paying jobs related to agriculture, construction,
landscaping, or the service industry. Clearly, they were the victims of an
unjust economic system.
One day, the lay leader for the Mexican ministry met
with me to explain how the Mexican immigrants in our church saw it. First, in
Mexico, they were really poor. They lived on a few dollars a day and barely
eked out a living. Second, a working couple in America could earn $50 a day.
From their perspective, that was a lot of money. With that money, they provided
for themselves and sent money home to family members. Third, the church family
became an extended family. They shared vehicles, lived close to each other, parented
each other’s children, networked for jobs, pooled food, took one another to
medical appointments, and watched over one another’s soul. Finally, my friend
observed that the English speaking families in the church lived in isolation
and were so intent on getting and maintaining things that they neglected each
other and had little time for church. In his opinion, they completely lacked
meaningful community.
At first, my friend’s words shocked me. I wanted to
protest and defend my culture. However, as I pondered his observations I
realized that he and the people in the Mexican ministry lived closer to the
biblical ideal than I. In my desire to
impose my values on the Mexican congregants, I had failed to see the situation
through their eyes. In this state of heightened conviction, I realized that I
and much of the American church were guilty as charged. The conviction produced
a renewed desire to more closely follow the example of the New Testament church
by living a simple life while striving for more intentional community.
Much has changed in the Spanish speaking immigrant
communities since 2001. They have become more Americanized and they are keenly
aware of issues related to economic justice. Many are no longer content with
$50 a day. In fact, most would not resonate with the convictions of the above
mentioned Mexican lay leader. Yet, I wonder, has the UMC considered the
unintentional social and spiritual consequences of climbing the American
economic latter? John Wesley and Francis Asbury both lauded simplicity and
strongly condemned the acquisition of wealth. Wesley’s famous maxim states, “It
is a mere miracle for a Methodist to increase in wealth and not decrease in
grace.” Early Methodism maintained a constant battle against “prosperous”
religion.
I have additional questions. How much money is
enough money? Americans are notorious for wanting more. Greed is a public value
and crass materialism is a prime export. Also, by what biblical standard should
the UMC measure a fair, living wage? Does a fair wage mean becoming a middle
class American with all the accompanying vices and temptations? Furthermore, to
what extent does our concern for economic justice reflect an unconscious
ethnocentrism that values things over community? Most importantly, what can the
immigrant Christians in our midst teach American United Methodism about
spirituality, community, and faith?
Many New Testament scriptures point to a
“preferential option for the poor.” Truly, God calls the church to join with
them in their sufferings and their struggles. Yet, many are so busy trying to
fix their condition that we fail to learn from them, be changed by them, or
enter into their world. Yes, the admonition of my former Mexican lay leader
still rings in my ear.
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