“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Whoa.

There is something so epic and counter worldly within those words.

Are these the words of a Pastor, Politician, Monk, or Iman?

No.

Is it a section in the mission statement of a homeless ministry, Church,  or recovery program?

No.

This is the quote engraved on the New York’s Statue of Liberty, the very image that graced the eyes of countless millions of immigrants searching for a better life.  Those words drip with poetically beautiful and significant perspective.  They cry out to the lowest of lows and offer sanctuary and safety to those lost at sea.  I believe these words, meant to depict the accepting nature of our nation actually strike a nerve that goes far deeper.   When it comes to loving people in our world – we have so many conditions.   I’m convinced that this is the heart  and posture of the God of the Bible, and I’m saddened that Lady Liberty speaks it more freely than the Church.

Do we as people, church-goers, and Christians love without condition, or have we created filters and gauges with which to justify our hierarchy of acceptance?

Do we only go after the good looking, easy to love, pleasant people?

Am I even familiar with the people who are “tired…poor…huddled masses yearning to breathe free…wretched refuse…the homeless, tempest-tost?

Just a question….