Pastoral Letter Addressing the Plight of Migrants, Immigrants and Refugees in the US Epiphany 2025

Bishop Tracy S. Malone • January 7, 2025

Jesus said, “When you welcome the stranger, you welcome me….” Matthew 25:35

At no time has the church in the US had a greater opportunity to welcome Jesus among us as he journeys with migrants, immigrants, and refugees than today. We your bishops are clear that the situation these beloved of God face as the Trump Administration comes to power threatens their humanity, livelihood, and basic human rights.

For decades, a broken immigration system in the U.S. has kept migrants, immigrants and refugees in this country living in the shadows of society in a state of perpetual fear. They have come to the U.S. under forced circumstances fleeing extreme poverty, hunger, political and religious persecution, war, cartel and gang violence, and the severe impact of climate change. Some are actively recruited by large U.S. companies who need their labor. Yet migrants, immigrants and refugees help to sustain the U.S. economy, serve our families caring for our children and our elderly, cleaning our homes, landscaping our properties, building our roads and the houses we live in, and cultivating and picking the crops that feed our families. They are our neighbors, our friends, and members and pastors of our churches.

Deplorably, racist, xenophobic, nationalistic, and anti-migrant hate speech has become standard rhetoric for many US politicians, including President-elect Donald Trump. He has stated that under his administration he will order the mass deportation of the 11 million undocumented migrants who live and work in the U.S. He has threatened to use military and law enforcement at all levels for this mass deportation. If allowed, this mass deportation of migrants will cause further racial profiling, the separation of families, the undermining of communities and congregations, the weakening of the economy of this country and its democratic systems of law and justice. President-elect Trump has also threatened to end birth-right citizenship, dismantle Refugee resettlement in this country and further strip away the possibility of the U.S. welcoming Asylum Seekers onto this land.

We are living in a dark time that more than ever calls us to be the light of Christ, people of faith who take our baptismal vow to “resist evil in all its forms,” with utmost seriousness.

As United Methodists we have firmly declared through our Social Principles that we are called to actively welcome the migrant, immigrant, and refugee among us.

• Affirming the dignity, worth and rights of migrants, immigrants and refugees.

• Recognizing that displaced people are particularly vulnerable as their in-between status often provides them with few protections and benefits, leaving them open to exploitation, violence and abuse.

• Urging one another to welcome migrants, refugees, and immigrants into our congregations, providing concrete support, to them including help with navigating restrictive and often lengthy immigration policies, and assistance with securing food, housing, education, employment and other kinds of support.

• Opposing all laws and policies that attempt to criminalize, dehumanize or punish displaced individuals and families based on their status as migrants, immigrants or refugees.

• Decrying attempts to detain displaced people and hold them in inhumane and unsanitary conditions.

• Challenging policies that call for the separation of families, especially parents and minor children.

• Opposing the existence of for-profit detention centers that are used for the purpose of detaining migrants, immigrants, and refugees including minor children.

(Social Principles of The United Methodist Church, The Political Community Basic Rights and Freedoms, Section G. Migrants, Immigrants and Refugees)

We, your bishops, call upon the people of The United Methodist Church to pray for migrants, immigrants, and refugees among us and to welcome them with the fullness of Christian love, remembering that as we welcome these, our brothers, and sisters, we welcome Jesus our Lord.

Bishop Tracy S. Malone

President - Council of Bishops

The United Methodist Church

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Easter Sunday | Choose to Belong

By Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • March 31, 2026

This Sunday we conclude our Lenten series with a heartfelt message, “Choose to Belong.” We’ll celebrate Easter—both as a remembrance of the resurrection and as a celebration of new beginnings, including welcoming new Gardner members into our inclusive community. Easter's beautiful expression of love and hope represents a tradition that calls us to notice the ways love rises again in our lives, dispelling darkness. Whether you interpret the resurrection story literally or embrace it as a metaphor of love overcoming despair, there is a place for you here. This weekend we’ll explore what it means to belong, and how our faith deepens through our connections with one another and with the sacred. Come experience the joy of community and discover how we can embody the transformative love of Christ together. Join us as we celebrate this meaningful day. Let’s embrace new beginnings and growth as one community. We can’t wait to see you.

Choose to Belong

By Matthew Vire • March 25, 2026

The experience of exclusion tempts us to blame ourselves, to think that we're falling short, that we are somehow wrong, damaged, unacceptable, or unworthy. To fix these perceived shortcomings, we may seek to fit in. There's nothing inherently wrong with fitting in — it can feel great — but it may come at the cost of our authenticity. In Letter to My Daughter , Maya Angelou writes, “You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all.” She does not mean that we are rootless, but speaks of abandoning the chase for approval so we can be free to show up authentically. We do not need to change who we are to belong. Brené Brown eloquently unpacks Angelou's profound statement in this video. May it offer you reassurance, comfort, and courage as we continue exploring what belonging means.

The Labyrinth Called Life

By Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • March 24, 2026

Have you noticed it? If you’ve been with us at The Garden over the past six weeks, you’ve likely walked right over it—the Labyrinth just outside the sanctuary doors. It’s easy to miss when we’re rushing in or out, but it’s there quietly inviting us to slow down, breathe, and pay attention to the path beneath our feet. As we move toward Easter, that invitation feels especially timely. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the moment in the story when Jesus enters Jerusalem to cheers, branches waving, and a sense of possibility in the air. But that joyful procession is only the threshold of a much deeper journey. In the days that follow, Jesus moves through experiences that are profoundly human—sharing meals with friends, seeking quiet in a garden, wrestling with uncertainty, facing conflict, and ultimately walking a path that leads to the cross. The story does not shy away from suffering or loss, yet it also doesn’t end there. It moves through death into the promise of new life, renewal, and hope. Whether you connect with this story as history, metaphor, or a mirror for your own life, it offers a pattern many of us recognize: how celebration and struggle often sit side by side, how a single week can hold both joy and heaviness, and how transformation sometimes emerges from places we would never choose. As we enter this meaningful week, I invite you to consider your own path. What are you carrying right now? Where are you seeking connection, clarity, or courage? What parts of your journey are asking for attention, and what new life might be waiting just beyond what you can see? Let this be a week to walk with intention—to notice the twists and turns, the companions along the way, and the quiet hope that can rise even in uncertain places.

Be You. (What Does THAT Mean?)

By Matthew Vire • March 17, 2026

"Be you" is common advice. But what does it mean? The exhortation to "be you" is an invitation to relax into yourself and let go of worries that you don't measure up to someone else's idea of who you are or should be. "Be you" means be honest––to yourself first and then with the world––about your thoughts, feelings, insecurities, passions, interests, and inclinations. It means you're more than worthy. It means you are enough. It means you're worth knowing, seeing, and loving. Our resistance to be ourselves comes from fear, judgement, and insecurity. Fear tells us "hide." Judgment says, "you're not good enough, so you better pretend." Insecurity warns, "people won't like you if they really see you." But it can be easy to Be You. You don't have to do anything; you can just be. The only barrier is self-acceptance. Love can break through that. May this week give you space to breathe, to soften, and to trust that who you are is already held in love.

Paths to Belonging

By Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • March 16, 2026

This Sunday, we continue our Lenten journey with the theme of belonging. The National Institutes of Health recognizes belonging as a fundamental human need that shapes our mental, physical, and social well-being. One of the insights from our Greenhouse Challenge was the recognition that many people in the U.S. are experiencing loneliness. In response, The Garden has been exploring what it means to belong—not just socially, but spiritually and communally. During worship, we’ll check in with Scott Semester to hear how our grant initiative may help us create spaces of sanctuary—places where people feel seen, safe, and truly at home. Our Scripture this week, Ecclesiastes 4:12, reminds us that “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Belonging is not just about individual strength—it’s about the resilience we find in connection. When we walk together, support one another, and share our lives, we become stronger than we ever could be alone. May we continue to weave lives of compassion, curiosity, and courage—threads that bind us to one another and to the sacred truth that we belong.