Searching for Home: A Church of Migrants in Paris
“To be human is to long for home.” Jen Pollock Michel
I live in a trailer.[1]
Not exactly my dream home, but it has great moments—the freedom to explore, the close-knit experience with my wife and children, and the low cost. The instability of it, however, can be crushing. A home gives you more than just a place to stay. It grounds you in a community—interlinks your life to friends, neighborhood, church, and place. We often come up against a terrifying “where will we stay tomorrow” moment. The nomadic lifestyle cuts us off from a place to care for, friends whom we need, and family we miss. It’s a precarious hour.
And so, when I met refugees like Khider in Paris several months ago, I felt just a glimmer of their pain. A Kurdish Iraqi, Khider fled persecution against his people nearly six years ago.[2] In that time he and his wife endured a dramatic separation from their families, the loss of a culture familiar to them, a death-defying trek across the Eurasian Steppe, years of awaiting as…
I live in a trailer.[1]
Not exactly my dream home, but it has great moments—the freedom to explore, the close-knit experience with my wife and children, and the low cost. The instability of it, however, can be crushing. A home gives you more than just a place to stay. It grounds you in a community—interlinks your life to friends, neighborhood, church, and place. We often come up against a terrifying “where will we stay tomorrow” moment. The nomadic lifestyle cuts us off from a place to care for, friends whom we need, and family we miss. It’s a precarious hour.
And so, when I met refugees like Khider in Paris several months ago, I felt just a glimmer of their pain. A Kurdish Iraqi, Khider fled persecution against his people nearly six years ago.[2] In that time he and his wife endured a dramatic separation from their families, the loss of a culture familiar to them, a death-defying trek across the Eurasian Steppe, years of awaiting as…
