Jesus gets baptized anyway because he always leads the way—going before us into the new life God gives. Jesus is our Leader and our Savior—and he will walk with us through every new challenge we face, until the day he takes us home to be with him forever.

So many immigrants and refugees work in jobs like the shepherds did, though in their home countries they may have been doctors or military commanders. But here they may be looked down on, just as the shepherds were on that first Christmas.

It takes endurance to leave your original home and ultimately end up in America. It takes courage and strength to walk through deserts and over mountains; to travel by boat; or to apply for programs that, years later, result in a plane flight to St. Louis and a new life.

Jesus warned people that following would cost them. Refugees and immigrants understand these costs better than most Americans born here do. They may have experienced homelessness as they fled war zones or lived in refugee camps. We all can join in helping them!

…as soon as Jesus healed her, she went straight back to what she knew best, the work that made her happy—serving her guests. Serving Jesus, who had served her first by healing her.

Jesus tells us to count the cost of becoming his disciples. What could we lose? What will we gain? Losses there will certainly be, though it’s hard to tell ahead of time exactly what. But what we will gain?

To Jesus, every human being is valuable—so valuable that he was willing to give up his life in order to rescue us and return us safely home to God. It doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor, immigrants or native born, used to being loved—or just the opposite.

What do you need? That is a question no poor or disabled person has ever had trouble answering. For us, our needs are obvious; the trouble is picking which need is the most urgent!

This is a stormy time in America. Aspects of our government and our culture are changing at breakneck speed. If the changes are hard for us to keep up with, imagine what they are like for people who are new to this country? How can Jesus show us the way to helping our New American neighbors?

New Americans know how things work in the countries they used to live in—but what about here? Can they trust what their English-speaking children tell them? What about the TV, or social media? Who is telling the truth, and who is just trying to take advantage of them?

Jesus is not concerned about tax questions as much as he is about us, the human beings who carry God’s image. This is true for every human being—newborns and elderly, men and women, people born here and the new Americans who are just getting adjusted to their new country.

Christians in America don’t often think about serious persecution—the kind that involves betrayal, exile, and death. We have had peace and freedom to follow Jesus for many years. But history tells us that it’s common for Christians to live with persecution at some level, and Jesus himself tells us to expect it. This world is not our home.

This is a scary time for immigrants in America right now. Anti-immigrant feeling is rising, and even those who have been here legally for years have reason to be afraid. Jesus helps us face an uncertain future.

Though Jesus is God, he chose to be born as a human being in a conquered nation, subject to the authority of a far-off emperor who never even knew he was alive. His mother gave birth to him on a journey, in temporary housing far from her relatives.

We are far from our Father’s home, living as exiles and aliens in a world where every day reminds us we don’t belong and aren’t welcome. And we long for the city God is preparing—our everlasting home with Jesus our Savior, who died and rose again to make us God’s children.

During the early years of our ministry among refugees, we saw how difficult it was for them to trust anybody. And they had good reason! In the countries they had left behind, there were plenty of people trying to take advantage of them—corrupt police, government officials looking for bribes.

New Americans may ask: Where would they live? What work would they find? Would they have enough food, clothing, money? At home they had family and friends who would help them if they needed it; but who would help in the new country?

Refugee and immigrant children face everyday unknowns, as they start school in America this month or next. Think of what it’s like to have to understand, to work hard, to achieve—when you already feel like your world is upside down.

Refugees and immigrants to the U.S. aren’t used to this kind of care. They are living with a system where numbers mean everything—how many people are being admitted from your country this year? How many months or years must you wait to get an answer on your application? How much support can you find to sponsor a loved one? Their humanity gets lost in the numbers—but not to God.

Rejection is something new immigrants face every day. It happens at school, at work, or with next-door neighbors. God forgive us, it sometimes happens even in the church! People turn their backs; they say hurtful things; they refuse the kind of courtesy and care that everyone else gets naturally. And every time it happens, it hurts.