As we mark Racial Justice Sunday, we are seeing a vaunting attack on refugee rights, increasingly hostile immigration policy, and inflammatory language by politicians.
This dehumanising politics legitimises and stokes racism and prejudice across communities, as is seen most visibly in riots targeting asylum seekers and other racialised communities.
We know from those we work with that this is a time of growing fear and a sense of marginalisation for people seeking sanctuary here. And the new laws and policies being enacted will have a hugely destructive long-term impact on their lives, unless we change course. In law and policy, as well as in rhetoric, people seeking asylum are othered and cast out. For Christians, this must be an outrage. These are our neighbours, and we encounter Christ in them.
The Gospel’s call to love our neighbour demands solidarity from us in the face of racism. It means not only practising kindness, but challenging the structures that promote racial injustice. A racially just society does not lock refugees – or anyone born elsewhere – into perpetual limbo by denying the chance to settle here. It does not warehouse people seeking asylum in military barracks, or incarcerate racialised communities without time limit in immigration detention.
God of all people,
You created each person in Your image,
calling us into one family of dignity and love.
On this Racial Justice Sunday,
we pray for all people who face racism, rejection, or hostility –
especially our refugee sisters and brothers
living with fear, uncertainty, or exclusion.
May we recognise Christ in those who seek sanctuary.
Give us courage to challenge injustice,
compassion to stand alongside the marginalised,
and hearts open to welcome.
Transform our communities into places of safety,
our politics into instruments of justice,
and our lives into signs of Your love.
Amen.
