This is a poem Lucy read as part of the interfaith service on Dec. 9th which prepared participants for the Dec. 10th "Love knows no borders: A moral call for migrant justice" action in San Diego.
Standing at the border fence in Tijuana
Construction workers hide their faces while making it higher
The wall is built abutting a shrine and inches from a family’s house
Even the trees spread their branches trying to stand in the way
As they build this new wall, a deep tear in the land
The remembrance of those who paid with their lives to reach sanctuary
Is obliterated, erased by this higher wall, this sturdy lie
A steel assertion that we are separate and not connected
That the land belongs only to a few
That fear is a force stronger than love
I remember standing next to the separation wall outside of Bethlehem
On the 30-foot wall graffiti audaciously proclaims, “Love wins”
I walked into the church of the nativity
Saw the place Jesus, a Palestinian Jew, was born
Those walls would have kept Joseph and Mary out
Why does so much obstruct seeking home, staying home?
In southern Mexico thousands walked across the border bridge
An image of passage, of yearning, of possibility
Some couldn’t cross over the bridge, they swam across, holding out their hands for one another
They flee violence, they flee poverty
All they long for is to live in dignity and safety
They joined together knowing that they could keep each other safer than if they walked alone
They seek peace, they seek shelter, they seek refuge
They are just people, organized by longing
They want to change Trump’s heart
Together they assert their right to migrate, their right to live as they desire
We gather at the borderlands to support their call
We gather knowing that we are all safer together
That we are stronger together than apart
That we can help to reach the hearts of many that can help to knock down this wall
That we the people are co-creators of humanity and of justice
We come here to put our bodies in the way of the lie of separation
We come here to pray with our lives
We come here to knock down all the walls and armor that stand in the way of peace
We come to hallow the earth to which we all belong
We come here to touch those who seek asylum, to put our hands through the wall, to offer blessing
We come here to proclaim that it is our bodies that offer sanctuary for one another
We come here to create the sanctuary that is a refuge for us all