{"id":622,"date":"2025-04-30T10:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T16:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcaracialjustice\/?p=622"},"modified":"2025-04-30T10:46:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T16:46:13","slug":"my-take-we-are-not-newcomers-let-us-not-just-celebrate-arab-american-heritage-let-us-be-changed-by-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcaracialjustice\/my-take-we-are-not-newcomers-let-us-not-just-celebrate-arab-american-heritage-let-us-be-changed-by-it\/","title":{"rendered":"My take: We are not newcomers Let us not just celebrate Arab American heritage\u2014let us be changed by it"},"content":{"rendered":"

In honor of Arab American Heritage Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries will be elevating the voices of our Arab and Middle Eastern Descent peers and reposting their works from other sources around the ELCA. The following is cross-posted from Living Lutheran. You can find the original post here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

My take: We are not newcomers<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

Let us not just celebrate Arab American heritage\u2014let us be changed by it<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

By\u00a0Khader Khalilia<\/a> | <\/span>April 28, 2025<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Marhaba\u00a0<\/strong>(mar-huh-bah or mar-ha-bah).<\/em>\u00a0A simple word, ancient and powerful. Rooted in Aramaic and Syriac languages of early Middle Eastern Christians. It means more than just \u201chello.\u201d It means\u00a0God is love.<\/em>\u00a0It\u2019s a greeting, a theology, a word grounded in relationship, faith and belonging.<\/p>\n

April is known as Arab American Heritage Month, but the church is invited to not only observe one month out of the year but to reclaim\u00a0marhaba<\/em>\u00a0as a spiritual practice of welcome, belonging, dignity and solidarity.<\/p>\n

At the heart of our culture is hospitality. The moment a guest walks into our home or church, we no longer see them as a stranger\u2014they are part of our family. We don\u2019t just offer food, we offer belonging. You\u2019re not just a visitor, you\u2019re embraced with dignity and love. That spirit of open doors and open hearts mirrors the gospel: there are no outsiders in the body of Christ. The church is called to do likewise\u2014not only to welcome the stranger but to receive them as part of the body of Christ.<\/p>\n

But for too long, Arab Americans have been painted as the \u201cother.\u201d Our stories flattened and identities misrepresented. Whether Muslim, Christian, Druze or otherwise, in Hollywood and other places, including the church, we\u2019re cast as villains, terrorists, foreigners or footnotes. These images have real consequences\u2014from hate crimes and surveillance to erasure and isolation. Even indigenous Arab Christians who are descendants of the earliest followers of Christ are often invisible in American Christian spaces.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why this month matters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why we give thanks to the ELCA, specifically the\u00a0Ministries of Diverse Cultures and Communities<\/a>\u00a0(MDCC), for opening its doors to Arab American communities. For making space not only for our language, culture and style of worship but for our leadership, theology, story and witness. Through the MDCC\u2019s support, Arab Lutheran congregations are taking root in places where the gospel is preached in Arabic, where Dabke is danced in celebration and where\u00a0marhaba<\/em>\u00a0is lived out loud. These congregations aren\u2019t side projects\u2014they are essential to the church.<\/p>\n

Arab Americans have helped build this country. We are doctors, engineers, teachers, artists, small-business owners, veterans and public servants. We\u2019ve enriched American cuisine, contributed to scientific breakthroughs, helped shape national policy and led movements for justice. Arab Americans have woven their lives into every part of this nation\u2019s fabric.<\/p>\n

We are not newcomers\u2014we are neighbors.<\/p>\n

Let us remember:\u00a0marhaba<\/em> is not just about welcome. It\u2019s about belonging.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Representation shapes how we see God and how we see each other. To support Arab American ministries is to proclaim that Christ speaks every language, eats every dish and walks with every people. It\u2019s to remember that Christianity was never Western to begin with, and we did not convert from Judaism or Islam. Jesus was born in my hometown, Bethlehem; grew up in Nazareth; and was crucified in Jerusalem. And Christianity first spread across lands now called Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt.<\/p>\n

Marhaba<\/em>\u00a0is more than a greeting. It\u2019s an invitation to reimagine the church as a place where no one is foreign. It\u2019s a call to resist tokenism and performative inclusion and instead build real relationships rooted in listening, trust and shared struggle.<\/p>\n

So this month, let us not just celebrate Arab American heritage\u2014let us be changed by it.<\/p>\n

Let us teach and preach about the early church as a living legacy still carried in Arab American communities. Let us teach our congregations that when Jesus said to love your neighbor and the stranger, he was talking to a people who knew what it meant to flee, to be displaced, to be labeled othered. Let us break down the walls that separate us from our neighbor and dismantle racism, support Arab-led ministries and show up in solidarity when our siblings are targeted or dismissed.<\/p>\n

Let us remember: marhaba<\/em>\u00a0is not just about welcome. It\u2019s about belonging.<\/p>\n

To my beloved ELCA, we thank you for making room at the table for us. For helping Arab American congregations not just survive but thrive. For reminding the whole church that inclusion reflects the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"Khalilia\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
Khader Khalilia<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
\nKhader Khalilia is program director for ELCA Arab and Middle Eastern Ministries.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In honor of Arab American Heritage Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries will be elevating the voices of our Arab and Middle Eastern Descent peers and reposting their works from other sources around the ELCA. The following is cross-posted from Living Lutheran. You can find the original post here. My take: We are not newcomers Let […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17083,17052,1],"tags":[17084,17058,17056],"class_list":["post-622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arab-american-heritage-month","category-crosspost","category-post","tag-arabamericanheritagemonth","tag-crosspost","tag-livinglutheran"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMy take: We are not newcomers Let us not just celebrate Arab American heritage\u2014let us be changed by it - ELCA Racial Justice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcaracialjustice\/my-take-we-are-not-newcomers-let-us-not-just-celebrate-arab-american-heritage-let-us-be-changed-by-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My take: We are not newcomers Let us not just celebrate Arab American heritage\u2014let us be changed by it - ELCA Racial Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In honor of Arab American Heritage Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries will be elevating the voices of our Arab and Middle Eastern Descent peers and reposting their works from other sources around the ELCA. 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