By Katie Harmon-McLaughlin
Formation Ministries director
In the early 2000s, Mike Wilson was an indigenous pastor near one of the deadliest border crossings in Arizona, USA. Temperatures would climb as high as 117 degrees Fahrenheit as migrants walked through a merciless desert, desperately seeking better conditions for themselves and their families.
An estimated 1,500 migrants were crossing Tohono O’odham tribal lands daily, and many were dying from lack of water. “Nobody,” wrote Wilson, “deserves to die in the desert for lack of a cup of water.”
Wilson had served in the US Army Special Forces in Central America, witnessing and experiencing firsthand the sacred humanity of those he now saw thirsty and dying in the desert of his home country and tribal lands.
As a simple response to the gospel imperative in his heart, Wilson began putting gallons of water in the desert. He placed them strategically along trails where migrants were most likely to travel and die. For twelve years, he walked into the desert with gallons of water, offering the literal living water of Christ to those seeking refuge and safe passage.
In his memoir, What Side Are You On: A Tohono O’odham Life Across Borders, he tells powerful stories of honoring the worth and humanity of migrants and the families that came looking for their migrant relatives, who were lost to the harsh desert. He would locate the bodies and pray with the families.
Because of the political complexity of immigration issues and policies of deterrence in the USA, he faced pressure from his church, tribe, and the government to stop putting out water. Confronted by the elders, he summoned his courage and responded:
Is God concerned with inhumane laws or more concerned with universal justice? I wish that I could do both. I wish that I could agree with you and honor federal immigration laws, but when people are suffering and dying…when our sisters and brothers in Christ are dying within five miles of here, there is only one law I must obey.
A unanimous vote prohibited him from putting out water, and Wilson left his position as pastor. He did not stop his water ministry.
When I heard Wilson share this story in-person, I was deeply moved. We often make ministry so complicated, especially when responding to major systemic issues. His response was Christ-centered clarity. It was disruptive to me, especially as a self-proclaimed rule follower.
People are dying in the desert. I will give them water so they may live. His response was also courageous. Because of the tense complexities of immigration as a political topic, his faith community told him to stop. His resistance cost him his livelihood, not his integrity.
What would you do if people near you were dying, and there was a simple way you could relieve their suffering? What would Jesus, the peaceful One, do? Have you ever experienced this quality of crisp, faithful clarity in the face of great need?
These are the kinds of questions that confront us deeply. There is a piercing simplicity to Wilson’s actions. A spirituality of justice emboldens us to ask deep within our own hearts, whose law do I follow?
The ministry of Jesus was a prophetic resistance against the systems and forces of death and oppression in his own context. His moral clarity and courage in faithful response came not from his political or ideological alliances, but his deep and abiding relationship with God as the source of his identity, call, and life.
The Lenten journey through the wilderness can get us in touch with our own thirst. I believe it is a thirst for the vision of justice and shalom for all creation in these here-and-now circumstances.
It is a thirst for action in tune with the heart of God’s dreams for us. It is a thirst for the substance of this life with God, no less. In the Lenten desert, we walk through the most barren places and cry for something real to sustain us.
In this way, we spiritually embark on the physical journey that many around our world take each day because of crises beyond their control. According to the United Nations, migration is occurring at rates higher than normal because of climate change, environmental disasters, human-rights violations, conflict, and violence.
Today, more people than ever live in a country other than the one in which they were born.
Lent is the season of clarifying what vision of the world we will choose—the powers of death or the promise of new life in Christ. Sometimes it’s not that distinct, and sometimes it is. What does belief in the Worth of All Persons require?
Imagine being in your own desert moment. Imagine your deepest thirst. Imagine that someone who does not know your name or story brings you water, literal salvation, because they believe you are of worth. Imagine watching as a drink restores life to your children, grandchildren, family.
Drink deep, beloveds. This is the living water that sustains us for the journey ahead. This is the hope of new life in Christ. God is making a way in the wilderness, streams of life-giving water in the desert. Will we join in God’s restorative movement in our world?
What simple action can you take this Lenten season to restore worth and hope to others as you embody the self-emptying, freshly flowing love of Christ?