Yesterday, I set out bright and early with half of Michael's Michiganders to help sort clothes and serve at a Lutheran Parish soup kitchen.

Why is it that people who have so little, are so willing to give so much? Take Mikael and Yyeta from the Salt and Sea Mission. An older Russian couple who has lived in Coney Island for the last 14 years, I met them last week at a ministry that hands out food pantry bags to those who attend a worship service before opening to the public.

Advocates for immigrants and immigration reform for the 21st Century will call for prayer vigils and in-district visits to members of congress in a call to prioritize immigration reform in the 111th congress in 2009.

Just a few months ago Christian advocates of immigration reform believed that the political environment in the country would make it very difficult to make the legislative changes necessary to provide relief to out-of-status immigrants to the US. These changes to the law would be required to give even the most hard working and conscientiously law-abiding immigrants an opportunity to seek legal status. Some have said that significant progress can and will be made by Thanksgiving 2009.