Tower and Town, September 2016 (view the full edition)Clergy Letter: Migration - Problem or Potential?One of the things that makes me feel most 'Dutch' is wearing my orange t-shirt at significant sport events. Unfortunately, that opportunity was largely taken away this summer, as The Netherlands didn't qualify for the UEFA Euro 2016 - having been beaten by Iceland in the qualifications... and sadly speed skating isn't really an Olympic Summer sport either! Very few days pass when I don't speak to any of my British, German or Dutch friends living in Switzerland, Belgium, Chile and Germany, or to my friends and family in The Netherlands. This is so much part of daily life, that it doesn't really make me think of myself as a migrant or foreign national in Britain. Of course, this has been different over the last few weeks in the wake of the Referendum expressing the wish of many to leave the European Union. Although this vote concerns a very specific issue, i.e. British membership of the EU, it is certainly related to our understanding and perception of migration: leaving the EU will have practical consequences for how migration is enabled and controlled through legislation. Human beings migrate: it is part of who we are, it is how we populated the world and how we have shaped communities and societies. It offers diversity and through our differences it gives us an opportunity to understand better who we are in relationship to each other, and thereby, from a Christian perspective, who we are in relationship to God. Sometimes we can see others as the 'problem': the homeless, the elderly, those on benefits, the migrants... They are the people we don't know, but who are different from us. Could we turn this around? Could we think of others as a gift to us, and ourselves as a gift to others? As Christians we believe that every individual is uniquely created and wanted by God: we are given each other. Given to love and to be loved; to give ourselves and to receive in return. In other words: to be with one another. Of course, this doesn't take away the problems we face: are there enough school places, jobs, doctors, hospital beds, ...? And what about global warming and energy supplies? But I think we should think in terms of the problem being a lack of resources, not pointing at certain groups of people causing, or even being, the problem. Legislating migration is part of a set of hugely complex issues we face as a nation, a union and global community. Let's hope though we can look at those issues together and not lose sight of the gifts we each have to offer and can receive. Janneke Blokland |