Talking Point: Immigration (1)
Garry’s ‘Talking Point’ topic tonight was on the contentious and highly topical issue of immigration, one of the major debating points during the recent EU referendum. Many people in the UK are afraid of the rise in numbers of immigrants and refugees entering the country, often associating these with an Islamic agenda and being angry that these people are ‘taking our jobs’ and using our services (such as the NHS and claiming social security benefits.) Some of the prejudice against immigrants borders on xenophobia and certainly this topic arouses feelings to an extent few others do.
Britain has a long history of people from other countries settling here, most recently Jewish refugees during the period 1930-1940 (70,000) and Hungarian refugees in 1956 when Hungary rose up against Soviet rule. Asian Ugandan refugees fled here from the dictatorship of Idi Amin in 1972 and the Vietnamese boat people fled from the incoming Communist government in the 1970s and 1980s. Kosovar refugees settled here in the 1990s and since 2011 over 5,000 Syrian refugees have fled to the UK. A refugee is someone who flees persecution, conflict or war, whereas a migrant is someone who voluntarily moves to another country, intending to live for at least a year there. Net migration in 2015 in the UK form the EU was 184,000 and from non-EU countries was 188,000.
Thursday’s EU referendum vote for the UK to leave the European Union will obviously have an impact on this situation, for according to EU laws, one of the four freedoms enjoyed by EU citizens is the free movement of workers. This includes the rights of movement and residence for workers, the rights of entry and residence for family members, and the right to work in another Member State and be treated on an equal footing with nationals of that Member State. Restrictions apply in some countries for citizens of Member States that have recently acceded to the EU. The rules on access to social benefits are currently shaped primarily by the case law of the Court of Justice. EU citizens living and working in the UK are estimated to be about 3 million, with Vote Leave giving unequivocal assurances that any new immigration system would not affect EU citizens already in the country. “There will be no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK,” it said, promising on its website that such people would “automatically be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK and will be treated no less favourably than they are at present.” Such guarantees will not necessarily apply to UK citizens living and working in other European countries after the referendum.
There is no doubt that a simplistic view of immigration may seem to offer easy answers, but the true situation is more complex. Fears of infiltration by ISIS members are real; the terrorist attack in Paris last November demonstrates that clearly (see The Washington Post.) Nonetheless, many of those fleeing persecution are Christians, and it should be noted that being granted asylum is by no means a foregone conclusion (only 43% of asylum cases were successful in 2015; indeed, the UK is home to less than 1% of the world’s refugees, according the UNHCR.) Many UK Christians would fail the asylum questions on Christianity, and it does not help that the Home Office answer to the question ‘Why did God send Jesus to earth?’ is to ‘teach us how to behave’, rather than to ‘save us from our sins.’ Though the political situation is clearly fraught with difficulties, it does not help to treat all immigrants and refugees as enemies, and as Christians, we are called to look beyond the surface to the individuals for whom Christ died. There can be no place for hatred towards people in our debates on immigration, even though we may deplore the actions some take. As Paul wisely reminds us, our struggle is not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12) and our opinions and solutions to problems must be rooted in Biblical thought.
Faithfulness
Dave continued his series on the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) this morning, speaking on faithfulness. Faith is defined as ‘complete trust or confidence’, a ‘firm belief (often without logical proof.)’ Our faith rests, however, on the faithfulness of God’s character (see Deut 7:9, Ps 33:4). Everyone has faith in something (doctors, cars, the cleanliness of restaurants and their desire not to poison their clientele!) and we need to understand that the fruit of faithfulness is grown in us by God’s Spirit because God Himself is faithful. He has called us into fellowship with His Son (1 Cor 1:9) and therefore our duty is to grow in faithfulness. We want to be ‘good and faithful servants’ who will do what God asks us to do, growing into people who are reliable, trustworthy, honest and dependable.
Our faithfulness is manifested in different ways. We need to be faithful first and foremost to God, who must have our first love and commitment. Next, we need to be faithful to our families (to wives or husbands, children and parents), honouring God’s desire for love to be seen in the family. We need to be faithful to the church and to our friends, faithful to God’s word, to prayer and to fellowship, and faithful also in our work, showing God’s character to our employers through the way we work. We need also to be faithful to the people God has called us to be, understanding our identity in God.
1 Cor 4:1-2 reminds us that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. Faithfulness is not the same as intelligence or talents; it is a steady reliability which is committed to doing God’s will, regardless of feelings. We are encouraged to meet together and build each other up, reminding ourselves that we can only do this because God Himself is faithful. (Heb 10:23) John reminds us that we are required to be faithful ‘even to the point of death’, but that God promises ‘the crown of life’ to those who overcome. (Rev 2:10) May faithfulness abound as we rest in the faithfulness of God.
Local Plan Consultation
BMBC is currently preparing a new ‘Local Plan’ for the borough which establishes policies and proposals for the development and use of land upt to the year 2033. This plan is used when considering planning applications and coordinating investment decisions that affect the towns, villages and countryside of Barnsley.
The local community is invited to look at this plan and submit comments before the plan is examined by an independent inspector whose role is to assess the soundness and legality of the plan. There will be opportunity to do this at Goldthorpe Library on Monday 11th July between 10 a.m. and 12 noon and on Thursday 21st July between 5 and 7 p.m.
Please do go along and have a look at the plan and consider how this will affect our local community. Please do pray also for our local councillors and local leaders who are responsible for planning and developing our area. Goldthorpe desperately needs new businesses and economic regeneration, but this cannot simply be imposed from outside; we have to work together in our own community, shining the light of God’s love and reflecting His care and vision for our area.
Thoughts on greatness
There has been much talk in the UK recently about the need to make Britain ‘great’ again.
Every time I hear the word ‘great’, I am reminded of how radically different God’s definition of greatness is compared to ours.
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‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matthew 18:3-4)
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‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ (Matt 20:25-28)
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‘The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.‘ (Matt 23:11-12, see also Mark 10:43)
Isaiah’s vision of the suffering servant (Is 52:13-53:12) and Paul’s description of Jesus’ exaltation through humility (Phil 2:5-11) are further illustrations that greatness in God’s eyes comes through humility, service and selflessness. It does not come through pride, arrogance, boasting, money or influence.
Prov 14:34 reminds us that ‘righteousness exalts a nation.’ We need to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt 6:33) as we pray for our nation and the world and for those in authority and power, understanding that Christians belong to a topsy-turvy, upside-down kingdom first and foremost.
Thinking to Yourself
What we think is crucially important to how we live; the things we think will influence our actions and actually become the springboard for all we are and do. Whether our thoughts are accurate and true matters if we are to live according to God’s ways.
Jeroboam’s thoughts led directly to idolatry: ‘Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”‘ (1 Kings 12:26-27) His conclusion was to build golden calves. (1 Kings 12:28)
If we are to prevent such actions in our lives, we have to be careful what we think about in the first place and the erroneous conclusions we often draw from our thoughts. We have to be careful from whom we seek advice and how we act. Phil 4:8 needs to be burned into our hearts and every thought ruthlessly evaluated by this standard.
More June birthdays
June was clearly a popular month for birthdays, as we had two more to celebrate tonight. Dave, recently back from holiday, remarked that his time away had truly aged him, since he had come home a year older than when he left!
