Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As my wife and I walked into our regular 8 a.m. church service last Sunday here in Salem, Oregon, we were thrilled by what we saw.

Up front on the platform stood about 30 refugees who now live here after arriving, often under duress from several foreign locations over the last few years.

The group led in music, singing in a variety of different languages – including a few dialects we had never heard of before.  They did so with enthusiasm and gusto.  And, just so you know, English was included.

For my wife and me, as Christians, what we saw was an expression of what heaven will be like some day – all kinds of people, all kinds of nationalities, all kinds of ages, all kinds of colors…all children of God.

The group up front Sunday is called “Baraka,” a word that means “blessing” in various languages. 

To use a phrase from Baraka’s website:  “It is a ministry of Salem Alliance Church that exists to bless our global neighbors with God’s love through long-term practical, social, and spiritual support.”

But, to me, it is far more than just that sentence.

It is an example of how we can have respect for and love people who are different from us, thus illustrating that God’s love transcends borders and nationalities and every other factor that often separates, not unites.

Baraka programs, which my wife and I support, include English language teaching, immigration legal services help, workforce training, and others.

Consider these statistics:

• More than 1,000 refugees have located in and around Salem in recent years, so this issue is not just one that resides in larger cities – it is in “our neighborhoods.”

• More than 12 languages are spoken by these refugees.

• More than 250 volunteers help to provide needed services.

Doug and Anya Holcomb lead the Baraka program – Doug often leading music as he sings in multiple languages and Anya delivering sermons on the importance of love for all people.  They are both children of missionaries, but were able to learn that they didn’t have to go overseas to serve as missionaries – they do so right here in Salem, Oregon.

On Sunday, Anya used these Bible verses as her text for a message that focused on unity that only God can spur – John 17:20-23:

In these verses, Christ says:  “My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity.  Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

To close, two thoughts from me:

• God loves everyone, as I wrote earlier, a foretaste of what heaven will be like when we get there.
• I wish Donald Trump would have heard what we heard Sunday so he wouldn’t label all immigrants/refugees as criminals.  It might change his priorities, though I doubt it (and, I add, the good news was that politics was not involved Sunday — and it should not have been in our church).