Worship Service with SURVIVORS OF TRAFFICKING, Houston TX, 12/31/2012. Jean S.

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1 Worship Service with SURVIVORS OF TRAFFICKING, Houston TX, 12/31/2012. Jean S. Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are gathered here today to thank God, each in our own way, by the name of God that we were each taught in our childhood home. We are of several, various, religions and cultures, yet we are gathered to thank God publicly, and to thank God together, for bringing us to the finish of a long, distressful time. I have told some of you before, and I want to say it one more time so that everyone can hear: the bad things that happened to you men when you left your parents, wives, and children to come to the USA to make a better life for them were NOT a punishment from God for whatever sins you may have committed in your life. Some of you have said to me, in your moments of despair - - in times when nothing was going right for you, when you had no work authorization, no immigration safety, no income, no place to live, no friends in the town where you went to look for work and could not get hired, no optimistic outlook, no good health, no opportunity to see and touch and comfort your family members, they said to me, Why is God still punishing me? What did I do that was so wrong as to deserve this treatment from God? I want to assure you, once and for all, that being trapped into human trafficking could never have been sent to you by our kind and gentle Father God, who loves you infinitely. God loves each individual even more dearly than we love our own children. Human trafficking was not God s will for you. It was the work of greedy people who are doing the OPPOSITE of God s will on this earth. They are doing their own selfish will. I say to you that God does not punish us in this life for what we do in this life. We can see wicked men living in luxury, a so materialistic lifestyle, people who bought their expensive cars and houses by cheating their employees of fair wages. And we can see good, honest, pure- hearted people in poverty, with no possibility to escape a life of heart- breaking struggles. So it is NOT by events that happen to us in this lifetime that God pronounces any judgment upon us. Instead, God loves us so much that God is ever- present with us, no matter what evil is being done to us by selfish people. We know this is true by reading the Psalms in the Old Testament. From the 3 rd Psalm, You, O Lord, are a shield for me. You are my glory. You are the one who lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice, and he heard me from his holy hill. And from the 4 th Psalm, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You have relieved me in my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. God is beside us to help us get through the bad things that happen to us, whether they are caused by the forces of nature, or by the forces of evil in the hearts of selfish people. Some hardships come into our lives by the forces of nature, such as Hurricane Sandy that came to New Jersey a couple months ago. Many homes and businesses washed into the sea. Lives were lost. I can never believe this happened because God wanted to punish people. It happened because hurricanes exist, they are part of the natural world that God created, and sometimes they make landfall on shore where NO people are living, and sometimes they make landfall on shores where people ARE living. 1

2 Other hardships come into our lives NOT by the forces of nature, but by the forces of evil in the hearts of people who choose to be selfish, who choose to abuse their power, who do not respect human dignity or have any love for their fellow human beings. I am SO SORRY that you have experienced the depths of evil that can be brought about by people who act in these bad ways toward their fellow human beings. Human traffickers did bad things to you, and we CANNOT say that GOD did these bad things to you. What happened could NOT be God punishing you, because we have a God who lives kindness, mercy, and justice. We can see this in the 5 th Psalm, by verses 4 through 12: For You are NOT a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in your sight; You hate all those who work iniquities. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy, in fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is destruction; their mouth is an open tomb; they flatter with their tongue. Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against You. But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous, with favor You will surround him as with a shield. As I have come to know each of you, through s, meetings, and phone conversations, I realized that every one of you men has been a devoted son to your parents. Those parents and wife s parents who died while you were stranded here, or you could not go back to care for them during their illnesses, or you could not attend them in holy purposes upon their death, those parents and wife s parents are with God now. They share in God s full knowledge. They know all things. The souls of your deceased parents can see completely all the trouble you were in, all the suffering you endured, all the setbacks you had, the barriers you faced, the overwhelming forces that kept you away from them, enormous obstacles that you could not possibly overcome, and they have nothing but tenderness, gratitude, and understanding for you now. Your parents who have left this life and gone to the heart of God now smile upon you from the afterlife and say about you the same as our God the Father said about his son Jesus Christ, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Those of you whose brothers or sister died while you were being held hostage to trafficking, likewise now know all that you were facing, and they harbor not a single misgiving about you. They have no misunderstanding. They are so rightfully proud of your steadfast love of your family, of what a good brother you have been. They see what a good brother you CONTINUE to be, for now you have many brothers as close with you as if brothers of your original family. 2

3 While you were in the grip of trafficking, whether it was during the physical captivity, the mental anguish and depression, or the administrative captivity of immigration regulations that meant you couldn t leave, for some of you even your wife died, or your child died. All the departed people who loved you so in this life, and whom you loved, are now with God, participating in God s full knowledge. They are well situated to carry God s blessings to you daily, from God s heart into your own heart. So, my brothers, my sons, never fear that God was angry with you and therefore sent the evil of trafficking into your life. God does not cause hurt or pain. As for the selfish people who caused you so much destruction, God will hold them accountable. Even if they think they could get away with it in this life, to treat you so badly. Even if they THINK they will not be held accountable. We all have sinned, because we are human, we are not perfect. If you did commit some sins, God sends us NOT a punishment in this life. God sends us forgiveness and pardon. If we are sorry, if we try to become aware of the consequences of our actions, if we try to do better, God removes our sin from us. The Bible says as far as the East is from the West, that is how far away God removes our sins from us - - and renews us. Let us start over in our personal lives fresh, forgiven, and restored. In your personal relationship with God, you have a new chance every day to be forgiven of your sins. At the same time that we strive not to commit sins, we strive to do God s will on earth. His will is simply that we love others, we do for others, we take care of each other. God s will is simply that we see God in every person we meet. All people are his children. His will is that we honor God by treating each other with kindness and respect, the way we would like to be treated. The US Government has a process that asks you to focus on what you lost as a result of being trafficked. The government asks you to write it all down and send it to Vermont. But from this day forward, I ask you to focus on what you found. Through this harsh experience you found many saving graces because God stays with us in our times of hardship. He does not desert us. He is a faithful and ever- loving God. So that in spite of the evil that human beings caused in your life, we are experiencing the delights of families being reunited. We have the beautiful progress in which poor health is getting restored to strength and well- being. We have a big supportive family built on brotherly love. You have so many people ready to help you, ready to listen to you, counsel you, and care with you about your concerns. Almost everyone here today now has work authorization, and a path to US citizenship if you wish to take it. We have the prospect that someday everyone in this room will be out of debt. I look forward to celebrating that day of jubilee with all of you. So now you can turn your attention from focusing on what you lost, to focusing on what you found. We know it is God s love for us that made any good thing come into our lives from such a godless, human- designed scheme as trafficking. I can only begin to tell you how honored is the Reformed Church of Highland Park, New Jersey to assist you. My congregation learned so much in helping you navigate the way to T Visa. We forged relationships with government officials and have been able to use those same relationships to help other immigrants. Countless times as we were assisting a group of Indonesians, we were able to use things we learned by helping you, in order to help them. Of 78 Indonesian families that we have been assisting, 55 have gotten safety, 15 got unfairly deported, and we have 8 remaining situations of people who have been living in 3

4 our church since last March to resist unfair deportation, while Pastor Seth has pleaded with every government official who would talk to him. The fate of these Indonesians has been discussed in more than 50 news stories on television, radio, major newspapers, internet news blogs, and documentary films. We cling to God s promises as we pray that things will begin to go well for them, as they eventually began to go well for you. Our work for you and for these Indonesians has helped form the identity and the reputation of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, NJ. Because of you, we have been able to obtain safety in individual cases of people from many other countries, and we have become a leading church in advocating for immigration reform, detention reform, prison reform, and labor fairness. You may know that it was because our Indonesian brother Harry was in a detention center in Elizabeth, NJ that we met our brother Roy George who was also there, and through Roy George we learned about all of you. Harry sends his greetings to those of you that he came to know who spent several months at our church: Jacob Mathew, Jaison Antony, Narendran, Prakash, Martin, Shaji, Abdul Manaf, and Roy George. Pastor Seth and Pastor Stephanie send all of you their love and prayers and well wishes. Over the past 26 months, every time we learned of another approval, our whole church rejoiced, and every time we heard of tragedies and difficulties you were suffering, we prayed for you. And when Jacob finally got approval after three Motions to Re- open, we rang the church bell. To the wives and children, I want to say that I have never in my life met such good men as your men. No people are more caring, brave, good, smart, faithful, and kind. I am so honored and grateful to be part of your family. Now, together, in our happy reunion, we will drink from the cup of blessings that God has poured for you. Be refreshed. Be restored. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Honor and enjoy all of God s beautiful creation. Enjoy the holy relationships that he has brought you into, with your personal family members, your many brothers, and with God himself. Drink the delicious cup of life that God is giving you. Go forward and do God s will on earth. At this time let us say together the prayer that Jesus taught us: Our father, who art I heaven, hallowed be thy name. They kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Now, we will have prayers of remembrance for our loved ones who have departed this life and gone ahead of us into the heart of God. Please stand. (Two minutes slience.) Heavenly Father, we commend these souls into Your everlasting presence. No longer here with us on earth, they now enjoy the eternal comfort of being with You and participating with You in Your holy work. Bless us Lord to honor them and in so doing to honor You who made them. Soothe our hurting hearts 4

5 because we miss thee wonderful people dearly, and grant us assurance that we will see them again when our time on earth is over. At this time we offer prayers for all people we are concerned about At this time we express our prayers of Thanksgiving And now, May the Lord shine His face upon you, and grant you Peace today and for evermore. 5