{"id":4858,"date":"2018-07-04T15:23:44","date_gmt":"2018-07-04T15:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=4858"},"modified":"2018-09-27T15:27:34","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T15:27:34","slug":"candlelight-vigil-prays-for-separated-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2018\/candlelight-vigil-prays-for-separated-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Candlelight vigil prays for separated families"},"content":{"rendered":"

Church of the Brethren Newsline
\nJuly\u00a04,\u00a02018<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
Intercultural Ministries director Gimbiya Kettering and her daughter at the Families Belong Together candlelight vigil on July 4, during the 2018 Annual Conference. Photo by Glenn Riegel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A \u201cFamilies Belong Together\u201d candlelight vigil sponsored by the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy gathered outside the main doors of the convention center in Cincinnati, where Annual Conference is taking place this week.<\/p>\n

The event on the evening of July 4 featured speakers from the Church of the Brethren\u2019s Intercultural Ministries and expressed concern for families being separated at the border.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a time I ever expected to see,\u201d said Intercultural Ministries director Gimbiya Kettering. Referring to Matthew 22:15-22, she asked the crowd, \u201cBring me a coin,\u201d and then quoted Jesus\u2019 saying, \u201cRender unto Caesar the things that are Caesar\u2019s and to God the things that are God\u2019s.\u201d Translating that into today\u2019s immigration situation, she said, \u201cEach of us bears the image of God. We belong to God and cannot be rendered unto Caesar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kettering asked the crowd, \u201cI would like to see you raise your hands if you are part of a congregation that helped settle refugees.\u201d Many of the people present raised their hands.<\/p>\n

Cesia Morrison of Iglesia Renacer Church of the Brethren in Christianburg Va., prayed, \u201cPadre, gracias por este tiempo\u2026. May your Spirit protect the families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilbert Romero, who has for many decades been active in the Church of the Brethren\u2019s Intercultural Ministries, commented on his experience of ministering across the southern California border in the Tijuana area of Mexico. \u201cAs I cross the border I found…people afraid…because of the declaration [made by the government]. Friends of mine have been arrested by mistake…. I carry my passport with me everywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are God\u2019s people. We are one,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

\"\"
An overhead view of the Families Belong Together vigil.
Photo by Glenn Riegel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The gathering lit candles and sang songs including \u201cThey\u2019ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love,\u201d \u201cThis Little Light of Mine,\u201d and \u201cJesus Loves Me\u201d in Spanish.<\/p>\n

— Frank Ramirez and Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

The news coverage of Annual Conference 2018 is made possible through the work of communications staff and a volunteer news team: Frank Ramirez, Conference Journal editor; photographers Glenn Riegel, Regina Holmes, Keith Hollenberg, Donna Parcell, Laura Brown; writers Frances Townsend, Karen Garrett, Alyssa Parker; youth team member Allie Dulabaum; web staff Jan Fischer Bachman, Russ Otto; Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of News Services; Wendy McFadden, publisher. Contact\u00a0cobnews@brethren.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to\u00a0www.brethren.org\/Newsline<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe to the Church of the Brethren Newsline free e-mail news service and receive church news every week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A \u201cFamilies Belong Together\u201d candlelight vigil sponsored by the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy gathered outside the main doors of the convention center in Cincinnati, where Annual Conference is taking place this week. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1295,1258,806,1274,1277],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-4858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advocacy","tag-annual-conference","tag-congregational-life-ministries","tag-intercultural","tag-spanish"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4861,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858\/revisions\/4861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4858"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=4858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}