The Very Rev Bob Wilkes
City Rector and vicar of St Michael at the Northgate, Oxford

We talk sometimes about being disoriented.

This can be just for a moment and not too upsetting, or it can be more serious.

I can remember one day – I was going about my work in a warzone and events were being very unpredictable, with communications down – when I really did not know where I was or what I should do next.

That lasted a couple of hours and it was awful.

This week I have been thinking what would it be like to live with that feeling all the time?

Why this week? It is Refugee Week.

Since 1988, this has been an annual time for our society to be better aware of those fleeing for safety from places of danger. Disorientation is a mild word to describe the experience of losing all the ties of home and family.

In Oxford, an energetic group of people from all kinds of groups have been planning a strong programme for June 14-21. The revived City of Sanctuary group, Amnesty, the Refugee Studies Centre, Open Door, Asylum Welcome, Refugee Resource, Close Campsfield Campaign, End All Immigration Detention, British Red Cross, Oxgrow – that list gives a picture of the many who are committed to welcoming refugees in our city, and to the richness of the co-operation.

There are events each day tackling themes such as destitution and homelessness, Syria, the Mediterranean crossings and press images.

There is theatre, a sponsored walk, a celebration stage at the Tandem festival and a global garden. It’s all there on oxfordrefugeeweek.weebly.com When the week is over, groups like Asylum Welcome, Refugee Resource and Open Door will keep going with their day-to-day work of supporting asylum seekers and refugees in this city and nearby. Food will be distributed, meals cooked, advice given, English taught, lawyers contacted, young people supported, help given with IT and employment opportunities and detainees visited.

But where does the drive for all this come from?

Refugee Week began on Bonn Square in Oxford yesterday with a time of reflection.

People with a variety of faiths and commitments came together to share their inspiration with each other. It is vital to keep our thinking and our activism held together.

As a Christian minister, I draw water from the well of the Bible.

There is so much in those scriptural texts about welcoming the stranger and caring for the refugee.

Jesus became a refugee with his family. There is challenge, too, about how we can easily narrow our vision and our compassion, because it is a tough call to live with our common humanity.

It is easier to live with smaller, and like-minded, groups of people.

But we really are bound up with each other. Meeting and listening to someone who is – or has been – a refugee reminds us we are all on a journey.

The Bible says we are all journeying in this life to a better kingdom, where all will be at home.