In a NY Times article on December 22, a Baptist pastor from Baton Rouge was quoted as saying,
“I would not knowingly extend communion to an illegal immigrant who is visiting our church,” he said. “That person would be in sin by being in this country illegally, and Christians should obey the law of the land.”
I have read this over and over and I still can’t believe it. This pastor stated publicly that he would deny communion to people without legal immigration documentation.
A bit of clarification regarding immigration law
When non- citizens are present in the US and they overstay their visas or invalidate their visas somehow–don’t get married as planned, drop out of school, quit their job–they have committed a civic infraction, not a criminal one. They are no more criminals than those who get speeding tickets, parking tickets, or citations for littering. Or, as my brother was when he shot off one too many fireworks in his youth and drew the attention of the authorities.
There are also some criminal offenses related to immigration–crossing the border without going through proper inspection points, returning after being deported, or falsifying documents–but still, the majority of immigrants who are undocumented are people who fit into the civil (visa overstay) category.
Okay, now back to the article. I’ve got a lot of questions for this minister. Here are just a few.
- Do you also refuse communion to those with outstanding parking tickets?
- Do you allow people who tossed their cigarettes out onto the street to partake?
- And what about the one who is stealing cable or wifi or extra Splenda packets from restaurants? Are they welcome? Though I’m sure the Splenda thing never happens and if it did surely that is not the same as these other offenses. Skip that one.
- Oh, and the frat boys home for the holidays? The ones who broke noise ordinances and were told to quiet down by the authorities? What of them?
- Do you interview your congregation to ascertain who might be embezzling money, cheating on their taxes, or buying amusements that are not exactly legal?
- How do you keep up with it all?
But we know that this pastor’s decision is not one of civic responsibility. I can guaran-dadgum-tee you that he’s not quizzing visiting Canadians about their citizenship while holding the sacraments out of reach. If a Norwegian boy, who looks for all the world like a corn-fed white kid from Iowa, attends that church, do you think anyone will question whether or not he has an up-to-date visa? No? I don’t either.
In a much larger sense, though, none of that matters. Here’s the thing: we’re talking about the sacrament of Holy Communion! I would administer Communion to an inmate on death row, to an active KKK member, and even to a Baptist pastor who refused to serve it to others. It’s not my choice who gets to come to the table.
Christ came that humanity might have life to the full. The practice of Communion is a lived experience that reminds us that Christ’s love is limitless. Christ’s love covers the liar, the adulterer, the thief, and the murderer. It covers the addict, the gossip, the sex worker; the school dropout, the PhD candidate, the struggling student; the deep-in-debt, the hard-to-understand, and the left behind. Christ’s love is enough to call out to the LGBTQ community–to call louder and longer than those peddling the poisonous lie that they have to become someone else before Christ can love them. Indeed, the practice of Communion proclaims that Christ’s love is sufficient for each person in every situation. Yes, it’s a ritual and yes it’s just a moment. But the symbolic taking in of Christ’s body and blood can provide miraculous clarity to anyone doubting that they are Christ’s beloved.
So Christians, when you go to the table and take that taste of bread and sip of juice, may you believe the truth it represents: Christ loves YOU. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, who you love or where you live. You are a child of God! And you are absolutely, completely, unreservedly loved.
