By now you may have heard about the release of hundreds of women and children from immigrant detention centers in Dilley and Karnes City.  The release has resulted from a court ruling that the detention centers could not be licensed by the state as child care centers.  Families have therefore been streaming into welcome centers, especially in the San Antonio area, just as winter weather has also arrived.
 
You can read more about the release here.
 
You may be wondering whether or how the UMC is responding.  Early next week, we will be sending out a special edition of our Unidos newsletter with more information on the situation, how the church is at work in response, and what you can do to support that work.

In the meantime, I invite you to pause, reflect and pray on this situation.  Our context is the season of Advent, a time when we watch and wait for the coming of Christ.  We know it was God's good pleasure to take on our flesh as a vulnerable newborn child, and that his father and pregnant mother made a hard journey before his birth, finding no room in the inn when they knocked on the door.  

Another context for us is one of debate and uncertainty regarding immigration issues.  As we stand in the darkness, looking for the light, may we open our hearts in prayer for all who suffer, and especially those families, women, and children seeking refuge far from home.

Watch your email early next week for the special edition of Unidos.
 
Grace and peace,
Laura