02/25/2026
Today, some from Living Faith UMC and others from the community participated in Faithful Resistance: A Public Witness for Immigrant Justice. We had our own event in Ipswich. We walked together from the church's front steps to the town hall. Here are the words we spoke before we left and the words we spoke when we arrived at the front steps of the town hall.
Friends,
Thank you for being here.
Today, while many are gathered in Washington, D.C., for Faithful Resistance: A Public Witness for Immigrant Justice, we gather here in Ipswich as a local expression of that same prayer.
We are not here to protest.
We are here to pray.
We are not here in anger.
We are here in love.
Across our country today, people of faith are lifting up the lives of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers — human beings created in the image of God. We gather in solidarity with them, and with those walking to the Capitol at this very hour.
We walk because Scripture calls us to welcome the stranger.
We walk because our faith teaches us that justice and mercy belong together.
We walk because public prayer is one way that love becomes visible in the world.
And we walk because faith is not only something we believe — it is something we live.
Hear these words from Scripture:
"When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the stranger.
The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you,
and you shall love the stranger as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt:
I am the Lord your God."
— Leviticus 19:33–34
And from the Gospel:
"I was a stranger and you welcomed me."
— Matthew 25:35
As we begin, I invite you to carry these wonderings in your heart:
What does it mean to love our neighbor in this moment in history?
Who feels unseen or unheard in our communities today?
Where is God calling us to grow in courage and compassion?
What does faithful presence look like — not only in Washington, but here at home?
If Jesus were walking our streets today, who would he walk beside?
Let these questions walk with you.
In silence, we make space for them.
In prayer, we entrust them to God.
In walking together, we remember that none of us walks alone.
And we trust that, step by step, God is shaping us into people of deeper love.
Let us begin in quiet hope and sacred intention.
From the front steps of the town hall.
We walked through the snow.
Imagine walking through one hundred–degree heat.
We walked less than a mile.
Imagine walking hundreds of miles.
We walked with friends, with people we know.
Imagine walking among strangers, not knowing who you can trust.
We walked knowing we would arrive safely.
Imagine walking not knowing if you will make it.
What must you be running from
to risk everything just to keep going?
Our walk was simple.
Their walk requires courage.
And perhaps that is where our faith meets us today.
Because we are not only called to walk in safety —
we are called to walk in compassion.
To see.
To listen.
To recognize the courage of those whose journeys we may never fully understand.
And to remember that, in every step taken toward safety,
in every mile walked in hope,
God is already walking beside them.
And God is calling us to do the same.
