New Arrivals

A small and somewhat rickety U-haul truck drove by one day last week. I wondered what stories were packed in with the boxes and weary-looking driver. I wondered if there were new neighbors around the corner.

Dominus custodit advenas

The Lord watches over new arrivals.

Wow. Isn't that a powerful way of putting it? I love the way three pregnant words in the Latin convey so much meaning. This snatch of a phrase is from Psalm 145:9 from the Latin Vulgate and Catholic Public Domain Version of the Holy Bible.

Some other Protestant translations (Psalm 146) render this verse this way in English:

The Lord preserveth the strangers (KJV)


The Lord watches over the alien (NIV84)


The Lord watches over the sojourners. (ESV)

If one is a new arrival, a stranger, an alien, or a sojourner, is there anyone more trustworthy to be watching over them than the Lord of heaven and earth?

Do you remember the last time you were a new arrival, the new kid on the block, the outsider trying to find your place in a new community?  An interstate move last summer brings the contradictory feelings of excitement and apprehension home to me in a fresh way as we settle into a new community and a new bend in the road. 

Konrad Grob, Swiss, 1886 TRAVELERS AT REST

A new arrival comes with a suitcase in hand, perhaps weariness from the journey, with eyes scanning the horizon for signs of welcome and what's next? on their lips. A new arrival might come with enthusiasm and eagerness for new opportunities and experiences, or hope for a better life than they formerly had. 

A stranger or alien might face obstacles of language, unfamiliarities such as cultural customs, or other fears. 

A sojourner might, like Dorothy in the magic land of Oz, just want to go home, or be afraid to put down too deep of roots or make friends. Sometimes new arrivals come with a cocktail of the above feelings making each day a challenge to step out on this new path.

Perhaps the most vivid picture of a new arrival is the newborn baby. So dependent. So wide-eyed to a new and strange world. So eager to be loved and cared for with tenderness and attentiveness.

With what largeness of heart and mind the Lord approaches all of these people. The psalmist didn't flinch in his certainty that the Lord held the new arrival in high esteem and tender view.  And then he goes on to say in the next phrase that the Lord watches over the orphan and the widow. 

Pestalozzi with the orphans in Stans, K. Grob, 1879

 
That triology of the disadvantaged---the stranger, orphan, and widow---receive a lot of attention in the scriptures and mistreatment of them elicits the Lord's great displeasure and his judgment. The entire verse ends with what might be a warning to those who mistreat these people:

The Lord watches over new arrivals. 

He will support the orphan and the widow. 

And he will destroy the ways of sinners.

It's easy to become so busy with our own concerns that we don't take time to notice the new neighbor on our block, or welcome a new coworker from out of state, or show warmth to someone who comes from somewhere else, or . . . well you get the idea.  For all those times we have shown care and welcome -- thanks be to God!

May all reading this who claim the Lord's name, serve as his emissaries of welcome and care for these special people--new arrivals, the aliens, the strangers, the sojourners, the orphans and the widows--in their midst.


~ ~ ~ 


Here is a piano solo from a recent recital I gave in Raleigh  WAYFARING STRANGER