In the first instance, connecting with the heart addresses a mutual need. As a traveler, Jesus was weary and thirsty, so he approached the woman as a fellow human with needs similar to hers. As he asked her for a drink, he was not only one to give, but he was ready to receive from her.

Second, he connected with the heart by knowing about her and showing interest in this. She was not simply a person with needs, but she had struggles and sins and Jesus was ready to discuss and engage with her about these. He challenged her to ask for living water. He challenged her to bring her husband.

Third, Jesus helped her to see what she worships. This also connects with the heart, because as Jesus explained, we worship what we know and this makes us true worshipers. In other words, Jesus connected her with the source of worship and all she is. He helped her to know God. God is seeking true worshipers regardless of the background and need or the sin and personal crisis.

As I meet and face the complex issues of refugees, I must navigate the barriers that exist due to different cultures, legal codes and human limitations, but above all, I need to address the heart issues. For the woman at the well the issues that defined her were her background and need as a Samaritan, her failures and struggles and her spiritual heritage.

For refugees, the defining issue is forced displacement. No matter what the geographic, political, ethnic or religious issue may be, all refugees share a common story of forced displacement. Therefore, if I hope to connect with the heart of refugees, then I first need to understand their forced displacement.

Jesus reaches out to the Samaritan woman by meeting her on a human level, addressing her moral life and supplying her spiritual needs.

Context in the passage that relates to us:
Verse 4-6
v.4 – “He had to pass through Samaria.” Mark these words, because in Matthew 10:5, Jesus instructed his disciples to stay out of every Samaritan city, and in Luke 9:51-53, the Samaritans rejected him.

Most Jewish travelers went around Samaria to the north.  From a geographic, historic, political and cultural perspective, Jesus did not HAVE to go through Samaria. He was there for a divine appointment. When Jesus reaches the well in the heat of the day, he is hot, tired and thirsty.

Verse 7-16
v.7 – Jesus and the woman meet on a human level as two people looking to supply their needs.

v.9 – Samaria was the territory between Jerusalem and Gallilee. Jews and Samaritans disliked each other with a passion and they were worlds apart. The territory of Samaria was where Israel’s forefathers had settled (v.5-6). They had worshiped there and were buried there. But it had become like a foreign country, populated over the centuries by non-Jews who had been exiled there from other places. Once when the returning Israelites tried to build a temple there, the two groups could not work together and eventually the inhabitants protested and opposed it. (Ezra 4:1-4).

v.10 – Jesus challenges her to ask for living water.

Verse 16-26
v. 16-18 – Jesus knows the issues that she faces. Her life is full of broken relationships whether through abuse, rejection or her own sin, and the issues are so personal that she changes the subject.

v.20-21 - Our heritage and background is not the deciding factor in our spiritual lives.

v.22 – Instead, we worship what we know.

The thread that holds this dialogue together is knowing God as our saviour and the saviour’s knowing us.  This is John’s point in v.26, as Jesus reveals himself to the woman as the Messiah, and it was most likely part her testimony as she spread the news through the village that Jesus knew all that she ever did (v.39).  “I know the messiah, and he knows me!”  

When Jesus first met the woman at the level of their human need, he challenged her to ask for living water and he connected this with the need to know him (v.10). Similarly as Jesus engaged with her in v.16-18, he demonstrated that he knew all about her personal life and the struggles that she faced, which the woman later confirmed in v.39. Finally, at the end of the dialogue, knowing God makes it possible to worship him.

Context in our life that relates to the passage.
Joseph once told me he did not plan to meet any Christians when he arrived in Europe as a refugee. He said, “This was not my plan, but it was God’s plan.” 

Joseph met a few Christians and they got to know each other.  One in particular took care of Joseph’s needs. Joseph said,

“He knew me like a brother, and I could talk about my life with him. I became a Christian because of the love I had seen in those I got to know. I had never seen anything like this.  I did not plan for this to happen, but it was God’s will.”

The thread that links people together from different backgrounds is the knowledge of each other. We are linked because of our mutual needs. We are linked by getting to know one another personally, and we are linked by knowing the creator who supplies our need and rescues us from both our trouble and our sin.

Fortunately, several commentators have already helped to point out the errors of this video. To me, the film is unfortunate because it not only misrepresents the situation, but because it mainly seeks to justify the xenophobia in people that readily blames the immigrant for society’s decline. I think it creates a motivation for engaging the culture around us that is rooted in fear and protectionism. I don’t think this is ultimately a very helpful or viable reason to take action as Christians.

The video concludes that our society will change due to Islamic immigration coupled with the high birth rate of Islamic families. This is only one side of the equation. Our culture has changed even without the influx of Islamic immigration. There has always been some aspect that is changing the world we live in -whether this has been through exploration and discovery, politics, immigration or technology. Check out another video on you tube about the changing world.

These films raise the question of what it all means for us today? but I think we should also ask what the Western values, ideals and agendas are that have led to the place we are. Maybe change would be good. Maybe it is time to face and reckon with the course of self-destruction that western culture has been on.

The video refers to the alarm that western states like Germany and France themselves raise at the prospect of growing muslim populations. The implication is that Christians would no longer have a political culture and society that is their own. Yet isn’t this the case now?

Western society would be unrecognizeable in an Islamic state, and Christians might be discriminated against. However, while this seems like a difficult and dangerous situation –at the risk of historical error– wouldn’t this be more like the world that existed at the start of the Christian age -before Constantine tied government and religion together? Didn’t the church once grow and thrive in a world that was not “Christian”, and depending on the time, in a world that was outright hostile and violent towards Christians.

I would question the understanding of faith that is so tied and limited to a single culture. Instead, I would argue that the spiritual health of Christians in this world has more to do with the level of trust that we live by and dependence on God that we demonstrate.

Migration has been part of human history since the Garden of Eden, and the scriptures give witness to God’s use of migration, particularly forced migration, to accomplish his plan in this world. Many immigrants today are forced migrants, whose story and journey will lead them to a new identity in Christ. As migrants they bring new ways of living, but they will also potentially bring the roots of a new and renewed Church.

These immigrant Christians are witnesses to the fact that to be Christian is not tied to a particular culture -neither the current western one or some Islamic culture that might be forced on someone. Rather Christian faith for them is found in a new identity with Christ. To me the current demographics are a helpful reminder that it is not our culture that makes us Christian. Instead being a Christian is about the transformation of identity that happens when one embraces the Gospel.

The call to me when I consider these demographics is not to reverse the trend somehow by rolling back time or by converting ones different from me. Rather the call is to embrace and to trust that God is still in control even when the odds might be stacked against me, and to promote faithfulness among those who identify themselves with Christ. The former call takes an anthropological view of the world, that emphasizes all that humans do to control and shape the world, while the latter call takes a Christological view that places God in the center as creator and provider who still, in spite of a world gone off course, will remain intimately active in transforming hopeless situations.

I approached the city from the tunnel terminal and the further I drove into Calais, the more refugees I began to see walking along the streets. I saw groups gathered on corners or around phone booths. Within 5 minutes I counted over a 100 refugees and then stopped counting.

I stopped the car next to a park to look around a little more. I walked over to a man sitting on a bench and sat down next to him. He was from northern Africa and had been in Calais for 5 months. At one point the police drove by and he nervously watched their passing. Without looking myself, I could feel them watching us. He said that most of the time he sleeps in the jungle, but every now and then the police will hold him for 24 hours or so for questioning. 

I asked him if he was trying to get across the channel.  “Yes, but it’s not possible.” ”Can you take me across the channel in your car?” 

I said, “that’s not possible.” 

“Why not?” 

“Cause it will make a problem for you and for me.” 

“No,” he said, “it is not a problem.  Here is a problem. Staying here is a problem.”

I left the park and drove on in the direction of the ports.  Refugees were everywhere, yet it was as if they didn’t exist.  I had entered an industrial area by now and soon drove past some wooded areas. I stopped next to a water pump along the roadside. Men were streaming back and forth to the pump from every direction to wash themselves or fill up buckets of water.

I got out of the car and walked up to a group. As I spoke to a couple men who shook their heads and turned away. One man finally understood some Italian and said that he had been in Calais for 5 days, and before this he had been in Italy for five months. Another young man soon spoke to me in English. Others spoke to him and gestured toward me without looking at me. “Why are you here? Where are you from? What is in the bag?”

As we spoke a group of police got into a van at the end of the street. Everyone slowed what they were doing and shifted their attention down the street. The young man said they were not police -most likely customs officials. He said that normally, the police don’t bother them in the jungle.

Through the trees and bushes, I could see a line of plastic tarps tied up between the trees and among the bushes, There must have been enough space for fifty people or more.  “So, is this the jungle?”   “Yes, this is where we live.”  I asked as well about the other refugees that I have seen all over town. “Where do they live?”  “Oh, they live in other jungles.”

The young man explained that they get food everyday from different organizations  –once at lunch and again at supper. In fact, he said, we get enough food. We need help though with phone cards and with getting out of this place. I would love to meet the organizations helping out in Calais, so I asked the man if he would take me to where they give out the food.

He drove with me through the city, telling me to turn here and there. We passed at least 3 groups of police officers and at each one, he would point them out saying, “Don’t slow down. Don’t stop.”

I thought about the recent laws in France to arrest people who help refugees, and I resented that showing kindness to someone should be made so hard and hostile. I almost wished that the police would stop me, so that I could say, this kind refugee was helping ME to find my way through Calais!

After about 30 minutes, we were back at the jungle. I pulled over to let him out and he hesitated. “Normally, I would invite you to where I live. But I can’t do that here. It is not good for you and the people there (in the jungle) don’t like it when strangers come in.”

My friend wants out of Calais. If he can find the way, he would like to go to Norway. I wondered what kind of road has taken him to this place, and what the road will be like that might take him to Norway?  More than food and more than aid, what he needs most along this road he travels is some way to reconcile himself with the danger he has fled and the situation he is in now.

Mike has nearly finished his first year of school in order to get the basic school diploma for Austria. He has one more year to go. He had just passed the final exam in English. With the diploma, he’ll be able to enroll someday in a trade school, and his dream is to start a business.

Sure enough as we spoke, several other refugees dropped by including Samy. Mike turned on the TV and fixed coffee for everyone. They asked the usual questions: What do you do? How long have you been here? What do you think about Obama? I was doubly sorry that I didn’t have someone with me who was from the church.

When I was alone with Samy, with the help of Mike as a translator, I told him that I had hoped to bring someone with me from the church.  Samy sort of looked down at the floor as if he was a little embarassed that I would give him this kind of attention. I told him though that actually he would be more than welcome if he went alone to the church. I told him where the church was and when they met. I assured him that they would be glad he was there.  Although it would all be in German, I said, it would perhaps be an encouragement to hear the music and prayers, and it would be the chance to worship with other Christians. Mike seemed more eager about the idea than Samy. I explained again where the building was and he noted the name.  He didn’t write anything down.

That was it. My time was up and I explained that I had to go. I don’t expect that Samy will actually make it to the church unless someone first comes to help him get there.

What we do flows out of who we are. Our good deeds in life and the morals we live by are the side-effects of who we are. Therefore when we face difficult situations and need to explain ourselves to others, we don’t focus on the beliefs and morals, rather we tell people about our dependence on God who through Christ provides for us, fills us with hope and give us a new identity. This is counter-intuitive.

To me this means I can change what I do, but I cannot change who I am. The witness I give to those around me in the end comes out of who I am and this is what I want to help others to see.   How can I help others to see who I am?  How can I encourage refugees to help others see who they are as Christians?  I think others will see this identity more quickly when my priority is to depend on God as opposed to being a good person who does certain things.

Context in the passage that relates to us
This is the last part of a long section that for me runs from 2:9-3:22. The section is laced with commands for good behavior including:
Abstain from the passions of the flesh (2:11)
Keep your behaviour excellent (2:12)
Submit to authority (2:13)
Submit to your masters (2:18)
Submit to your husbands  (3:1)
Respect and honor your wives (3:7)
Be harmonious, gentle, kind and humble (3:8)
Do not return insult for insult (3:9)
Refrain from speaking evil and deceit (3:10)
Seek peace (3:11)
Do what is good (3:11, 13)

This is not exactly a well-loved list of virtues in today’s world.  In fact I might even ask, whether I can justify “honoring Christ in our heart” as the important point, when so much of the passage is all about the outward behavior?

Is not the passage really about being a good moralist? Does it not prove that Christians are at heart nothing more that legalists whose actions only serve to shame others who believe or behave differently?  What makes my acts any different from the next person who might have another list of good things to do?  –Context.

The context -as the start of this section in 2:9-10 points out- is my relationship to God. This is the context in which I do these things.  Peter wrote to the Christians then as strangers and aliens who belong to God’s family …God’s own possession …the people of God. The context for all their behavior is their identity as members of God’s family.

Therefore, Peter’s point in verse 15-16 should be my point. I need to get behind the scenes. I need to go beyond the outward deeds to what is in the heart.  These are the unseen things of the heart (3:4) from which my prayers flow (3:7) and where Christ is Lord (3:15).  This is the context for my behavior -this unseen identity is what I am all about.

I want to find a way to get past all the things I do and say. As important as the here and now is, I want to see beneath the surface, into the heart, to the deeper promises, provisions and hopes that make me who I am.  This is what Peter is encouraging and teaching me to do.

Peter teaches me the following principle for my work among refugees:  the basic reflex for me -with my identity in Christ as a member of God’s family- is to respect, honor and submit to the authorities over me as long as it does not replace my dependence on God as my maker and provider.

Likewise, it is also a reminder to refugees of the same who embrace the Christian faith and who also seek to live out their faith.

Context in life that relates to the passage
Besides the French quota that might oppose those who help refugees, there are many refugees who make me think of this passage.

A refugee couple once fled Austria and was questioned in another European country about their journey. They told the officials they had been in Austria first, so they were sent back to Austria according to the rule. They reported that they had learned as Christians not to lie, and so they told the truth.  Several weeks later they fled again and were caught in yet another country. They reported the truth again, but this time they were placed in a deportation center to be returned to their country -where eventually they could be killed for professing Christ.

What they have learned as Christians has surely influenced what they believe and how they have acted.  However, it is their identity as followers of Christ that will ultimately decide their future as well as help them to persevere in their faith.

If the French follow through fully with their policy as they have already begun, then at best the Christian foundations for such agreements like the Geneva Convention will be significantly eroded, and at worst, I might be doing my work behind bars.  Countries across the wealthy world are building a new wall on the foundation of national pride and xenophobia, that does nothing more than to polarize the issues even further into the north and south, the rich and poor, the good and bad.

Just today, I listened to an ORF radio report on the public schools in Austria. Because many of the schools in Vienna have over 80% immigrant children, there are efforts by some to establish schools that are open only to Austrian children.  We don’t need to look far in our well-off societies to see the extent and proportion of the illegal immigrant problem, and neither do we need to look far to see the inadequate understanding and response.

The current French plan is only one small step away from seeing destitute people like refugees -ones without a family, home and country- as unworthy of the respect, compassion and care that fellow humans might choose to show them or have the capacity to give, and thus in some way as less than human. In the name of national security, prosperity and culture this approach in one divine sweep, criminalizes acts of kindness and compassion, and calls what is good, evil.

In the name of French Law the plan forbids God’s Law, and in so doing reveals its own poverty and loss of life.

When I fled as a refugee, I saw Hindus and Budhists, Christians and Muslims all living together in a single country. Before in my country this was unthinkable. I lived as a refugee for 5 years, and worked as I was able.  When I thought the danger was over in my country, I returned to help rebuild it.  However, soon after returning, my life was threatened, I saw the impossibility of my culture. It is like a lost country that has dropped off the end of the world. I had to flee again. It is hard to live without a country. I am here in the hopes of getting a passport so that I can finally settle in a country. I have 2 children and it is so difficult to be without them.

His life will never go back to the way it once was. As a refugee he is continually faced with what he does not have, like honey inside a jar that he can’t open.  He will face grief at every turn he takes and his children will never know their father except through the face of grief.

His testimony reminds me that the birth of a dream carries a lot of grief with it. Ecclesiastes 5:3 wisely points out that a vision is the sum of many steps. The big view in scripture is that these steps will be painful, and there are many tears to testify to this.

Jesus reminded his followers that there is no one who has left home who will not have to make a sacrifice. As Christians we will face grief as we follow Jesus, yet the scriptures promise that the Lord knows our pain, comforts us and he cares for us.

As I hear refugees share their loss like this man faces, I also see the birth of a vision. I remind myself that in helping someone like this to face loss as great as living without a country and a family, I am also helping him to embrace a vision greater than all of this -a vision of God’s Kingdom and God’s family.

There are at least two things that come to my mind that would be helpful.  Can you add anything else?

1.  I can ask, “What step is he trying or needing to take?  What does he need in order to take the next step and how can I help him to do this.”

2. I can point out and remind him of the promises of God, to know our grief, to comfort and to care.

Unfortunately, I simply don’t have enough days in the week to add another visit onto the calendar.  I went away with the idea of trying to find someone from the local church who could begin to visit Samy. The purpose of these visits could be simply to help Samy learn German.    This person could give Samy the Take-a-long German course and offer to meet once a week to review what he has been learning. I would recommend that they agree to meet 8-10 times for the tutoring. The options are unlimited.

At the very least, the church member could meet him and invite him to church. He could help Samy understand when and how to get there. He could offer to pick him up or to meet him. He could encourage him to come again and in a very small and doable way offer Samy the hope of getting to know fellow Christians.

So, I called the local pastor today in order to ask whether there might be someone interested in going with me on my next visit. I’d love to take someone along with me to meet Mike’s neighbor -Samy.   I pulled over on the side of the road and rang up the pastor.  “Does Samy speak German, because it might be hard to find someone if he doesn’t know the language?” I think the pastor was very aware that unfortunately the average person may not feel confident visiting a stranger in another langauge.

I think the key is to think outside of the box in order to make this kind of relationship work. This is about hospitality and reaching out in a genuine way. It’s about meeting the need of a stranger. In a recent UN report about reintegrating 400,000 refugees into local African communities, the writer identified the involvement in local churches as refugees,  as a significant factor later in the success of starting life over (Kaun, 2009, p.27).  I think the issues and points made in this article are comparable as well to refugees in Europe who one day may finally integrate into a new life. The connection to other people shapes the connection to a place

I hope the church will think about the kind of connection they can offer to refugees? The relationship that Samy needs is surely not the same kind that we might try to build with the neighbor next door whom we hardly know.  There are dozens of options for extending to Samy our Christian hospitality and help.  One of them might be simply to travel back and forth to church with hand signals, serve him a cup of tea and offer him the chance to be around other Christians for a few hours.  If it is a God thing, I bet that Sammy will soon come on his own to church and eventually even learn a little German.

The first was at an exhibit about how the movie industry handles the subject of migration and specifically the strategies that are presented for handling the stress.  Clips were shown from several films to draw out aspects such as the hidden cost of leaving home and family, the danger and uncertainty of the journey, coping with the many needs along the way and the unbending power of humanity on the move.

What caught my attention to the exhibit and discussion was the idea of “strategies at work” among migrants.  Quite clearly the presenters and films can choose whichever strategies they want to highlight. However who is asking which strategies refugees are choosing?  I wondered if the practice of faith would count as one of the strategies.

Then on the following day, I heard the account of a refugee who indeed had recently trusted Jesus. He briefly described how he had come to faith in Jesus as a forced migrant. Click here for the 2 minute story in German. The audio quality is very poor, so I have included the translation below.

“(In the past) I had heard about Christianity and had contact with Christian people. Sometimes I thought about this, but it was not serious. Five months ago, I met – Christian- Christians, and the friendship between us was very good. I was invited to the church, and I could feel firsthand the love and joy and friendship. On a Friday evening the church had a meeting, where a teacher from Germany came. He spoke very well about Jesus and why he died, and why we should believe in him. I heard it and Jesus touched my heart. Immediately I knew I wanted to invite Jesus into my heart and into my life as Lord. Jesus has done a lot now in my heart and I am very glad now to be a child of God. Before my faith I was was anxious, and had no peace in my heart, but now I am at rest and full of peace. I still have problems, but they do not make me anxious like before. I am very glad that now I have brothers and sisters and belong now to God’s family.”

I believe this is a strategy, that has turned the world upside down.  Afterwards, I found my refugee friend to congratulate him on his step of faith, and to remind him that even when life gets hard to remember that he belongs to God. He commented simply, “God chose me.”

There is surely a lot of talk about the strategies at work among refugees as they flee for life. Yet when refugees exercise faith, which many do, then we can also speak of God’s strategy. It is a strategy that helps some to cope with the pain and the cost they have incurred along the way.