ACROSS THE LINES - Archive (2006-2020)

These pieces - video (4 min) ,  slideshow, story -  were produced by United Methodist Communications and so do a little denominational cheerleading, but they also do an excellent job capturing the reality of separated families on the U.S.-Mexico border.  For my part, I'll be back at Friendship Park on Sunday, January 6 for EL FARO: The Border Church / La Iglesia Fronteriza . Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours.  John Fanestil

When I was ordained as a pastor in the United Methodist Church twenty years ago, I did not imagine in my wildest dreams that it would come to this.  But there I was last Sunday, a 50 year-old man (OK, 51), running almost two miles in slacks and dress shoes so as not to miss out on a commitment I had made to serve communion.   The whole enterprise that we call El Faro - The Border Church / La Iglesia Fronteriza , is in many ways preposterous, even ridiculous. Sometimes when I am talking through the fence at Friendship Park to someone standing in Mexico, and I explain what we are doing - trying to gather as a church in two nations, through a high-security fence - I can almost hear them thinking, " Tonto gringo ." Silly gringo.  ("Silly" is a nice way of putting it.)  If ever there was a Sunday that I felt silly it was this past Sunday, as I panted my way across the two miles to Friendship Park with the communion elements in my backpack.  I appreciate that such a biz

Each year at Christmastime, all across Latin America , people gather to observe a tradition called las posadas.   The word posada means “lodging” or "inn" and in the ritual people re-enact the search of Mary and Joseph for a place to stay on the night of Jesus’ birth.   One group of people sings the part of Joseph, pidiendo posada – “asking for a place to stay.”   Others sing the part of the casero or “innkeeper,” at first refusing to offer refuge.   The tune is simple and easy to sing once you learn it: JOSEPH: In the name of Heaven / I beg you for lodging / For my beloved wife / She cannot walk. JOSE: En nombre del cielo / Les pido posada / Pues no puede andar / Mi esposa amada. INNKEEPER: This is not an inn / So just keep going / I cannot open / You may be bad people CASERO: Aqui no es meson /  Sigan adelante / Yo no puedo abrir / No sea algun tunante.   In most parts of Latin America the participants in las posadas process from home to home through th

The line to get back into  the United States was unusually long last Sunday.  I had traveled to Tijuana to serve communion at El Faro: The Border Church .   At church I made two new friends and together we grabbed a quick cab ride back to the border crossing.   I groaned when I first caught sight of the line, and I told my friends that we could be looking at two or maybe even three hours.    But our good conversation made the time go fast, and the pedestrian crossing at the U.S. Port of Entry was fully staffed for a change, so in fact our wait was just an hour and a half.   Waiting is a funny thing.  The emotions that waiting conjures are not proportional to the time - or at least not precisely.  A host of things can come into play to make the waiting excruciating, on the one hand, or relatively painless, on the other.   Over one hundrend thousand people cross the border between San Diego and Tijuana each day  - it is the busiest land border crossing in the world - and the