In Christ there is no east or west,
in him no south or north,
but one great fellowship of love
throughout the whole wide earth

The recent controversy over the issue of immigration to the United Kingdom, and the resulting cycle of claim and counter-claim by government, opposition and media, have produced more heat than light, more confusion than clarity. As I write, ministerial resignations and Downing Street summits about immigration dominate the news agenda; and whilst there is room for legitimate political disagreement over matters of immigration policy, I have found myself rather more concerned about the faint yet distinct whiff of xenophobia surrounding the debate. Such attitudes are ironic, given that more and more British citizens are choosing to live abroad (and television programmes are showing those who have the means how to buy property in all sorts of exotic locations). I wonder how local people in the south of Spain or large swathes of rural France view us, and the attitudes and assumptions we take with us, when we relocate?

The first verse of John Oxenham's hymn, quoted above, reminds Christians that, just as Jesus Christ has broken all barriers down, so our relationship with Him transcends all our other relationships and loyalties: family, nation, class or ethnicity. This does not render such loyalties irrelevant, but it does place them in their proper context. An important way in which Christians in the United Kingdom can bear witness to the Christ in whom barriers are broken down is by challenging the easy assumptions about immigrants that allow an 'us and them' mentality to dominate our public discourse. In Jesus there is no 'us' or 'them': we are all one with him.