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Remarks by Dr. Sam Rutland, Miami Shores Presbyterian Church, on December
18, 2009

Let me say very quickly, as a Christian and as a Presbyterian pastor at Miami Shores I am
very glad and honored to stand in solidarity with you.  Fasting and walking are two of the
oldest and most revered traditions of many faiths.  Fasting centers the heart and all of our
physical desires on God.  It centers our desires on God’s desires. It centers our hunger on
what God hungers for. You believe, and many others believe, that God hungers for a more
humane immigration policy. It was Jesus Christ who said that those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness will be satisfied.  It goes all the way back to Moses and David and
Esther.  And Daniel, Elijah, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul.  They all fasted.  Luther and
Wesley, Finian and Billy Graham fasted.  When we are hungry, we become hungry for what
God is hungry for.  And God has a promise: he will satisfy our hunger.  

Walking together in peace and solidarity is a tradition going all the way back to the people
of Israel.  Walking together, going up to Jerusalem, with one purpose.  You are going to
walk to present one purpose: our hopes, our dreams for a more humane policy on
immigration.  And here is the promise: like Joshua who walked for seven days around
Jericho, the promise is that the walls of resistance will come tumbling down.  
Spiritual Reflections