 Greetings friends, I'm Reverend James Ross and I serve as the Minister for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Southern New England Conference. By now, you probably have heard that approximately 50 people, most of whom are from Venezuela, arrived on Martha's Vineyard on Wednesday via chartered planes that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken credit for sending. And according to officials, the new arrivals included seven families, including children as young as three years old. To use vulnerable human beings as pawns in a political battle is beyond deplorable. It's shameful whether the goal is to highlight what some politicians describe as a crisis at the southern border of the United States or if the goal is to gain leverage for an upcoming election. So this is a call, it is an urgent, it is a plea for politicians to stop this immediately. Please just cut it out. It's a misuse of authority, it's a violation of human rights and I believe in direct opposition to the Christian faith claimed by DeSantis and other governors who bragged about taking the strategy in recent days. Sadly though, it seems that we can expect more of the same. Some federal officials have warned that we should expect bus loads or plane loads of migrants to be shipped to Boston in the very near future. Now, the conference staff has been in conversation with leaders of our immigration refugee and asylum task team, our partners at the church's national setting and congregational leaders in the Martha's Vineyard area. And local church leaders and others are responding to immediate needs of the families who arrived on Martha's Vineyard and they're discerning how others can be most helpful. We will follow the elite. The national teams, the national settings team global hope has created a toolkit and has outlined several action steps that can help congregations respond effectively to this humanitarian crisis. However, the team says that the single most important action that any of us can take right now is to advocate that our own hometown city governments develop a response plan and prepare to lead the buses or planes full of migrants arrive. And here's why. Local governments and state officials, including Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker have responded immediately to the situation at Martha's Vineyard. They provided emergency services, food, shelter and more. But because of the politically charged reality of these situations, governments at all levels have responded poorly and sometimes not at all when people were dropped off in other cities. Now, I have absolutely no doubt that many of our congregations want desperately to be faithful to the gospel and to care for Jesus as we care for those who are strangers at the moment. The reality though is that our churches simply are not equipped to handle thousands of migrants with a variety of needs. Government leadership is essential. So now is a good time for you to contact your city council member or mayor and ask them to create a plan and prepare to lead. And the diversity, equity and inclusion team is happy to help if you need help figuring out how to do that. Also the conference staff in collaboration with appropriate partners expects to convene congregations and individuals interested in developing a response plan as soon as we are realistically able to do so. Now friends, the work ahead will require our energy, our commitment and our creativity. And as we all know, this will also require money if we are to adequately resource congregations working directly with newly arrived migrants and to respond to other in other appropriate ways. So I want to invite you to make a financial investment in this critical and urgent effort to live the love and justice of Jesus by making a gift to the conferences Jim Antall Justice Fund. You can access the fund via the conference website at sneucc.org. And I rejoice also that the various settings of the church may apply for the UCC refugee and migration solidarity grant to fund migrant emergency situations that grant is available from the national setting. Finally, I want to thank you for your commitment and for all that you do. And as always, I look forward to hearing from you and to the work that we will continue to do together on this and other justice issues as we seek to create the kingdom of God. Here, honor.