{"id":2791,"date":"2020-07-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:3000\/home-is-here-for-now\/"},"modified":"2022-05-04T22:25:11","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T22:25:11","slug":"home-is-here-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/article\/home-is-here-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Home is Here . . . for now"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n American Civic Life<\/span>\n

Home is Here . . . for now<\/h1>\n
\n By
Rev. Alexis Vaughan Kassim <\/address>\n <\/div>\n

July 1, 2020<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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Rev. Alexis Vaughan Kassim is the pastor of Little River United Church of Christ in Annandale, VA. A longtime IFYC alum, Alexis currently participates in the Faith\/Secular Leaders alumni cohort and was previously awarded the One Chicago, One Nation grant and Germanacos fellowship. Her church interests include advocacy and activism, and asking the question “who will we be to one another and to God?” Her non-church interests include watching television, tennis, and all things Duke basketball. You can find her on IG @REVolutionlovejoy. <\/em><\/p>\n

I never wanted to be the kind of person who didn’t believe in miracles. That would be bad in my line of work. As a pastor who works closely with the Congregation Action Network<\/a>, an interfaith organization dedicated to deportation defense and solidarity with immigrants, I have been praying for many miracles over the last few years. My church sits directly across the street from Northern Virginia Community College, one of the most internationally diverse colleges in the United States, with a student body representing over 180 countries. Many of these students are Dreamers or recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. <\/p>\n

I’ll never forget the day Val came to my office nearly two years ago. Having seen the “Families Belong Together” banner in front of my church as she was leaving the school’s parking lot, she stopped in to ask me to pray for her. She had just submitted her DACA renewal application and was nervous that it might be rejected given the current political climate. She told me that she comes from a long line of chefs and that her grandparents, originally from Tijuana, Mexico, had owned several bakeries there and California. Back in those days, people like her grandparents crossed the border all the time for business and never thought of it as leaving one home for another. They never considered themselves at home in Mexico and strangers in California. After we prayed together, I asked her if there was anything else she needed. “Just keep praying for a miracle,” she said and left. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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