I went to bed last night to the words of Amy, my wife, saying “have you thought about going to assist with the refugee crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine?” This question stuck with me throughout the night, and was still spinning around in my head when I woke this morning. Daily we are hearing news on the Ukrainian refugee crisis. 1.5 million have fled the Ukraine in he past two weeks, it is heartbreaking. We need to respond, we need to be a neighbor to the stranger, like God commands.
“Do not oppress and alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt. (Exodus 23:9)
How do we respond though? The first thing is awareness. Once we become aware, then we will become empathetic to the refugee. Ken Wytsma writes “injustice flourishes in soil where empathy has been uprooted.” Below I am attaching some links to help you become more aware. Find some time this weekend to learn about this crisis and ask God for way’s to respond.
Here are some links:
- The Why– A BBC article on why Putin is attacking Ukraine.
- The What– What is happening in Ukraine now.
- Seeking Refuge– A book on the Refugee Crisis.
- Slow Kingdom Coming– A book on Practicing Justice.
There are many ways to get involved.
- You can give.
- You can pray.
- You can go. I am looking into ways that people can go, asking friends and co-workers who live in Europe. I will update more on this, but please let me know if you are interested in responding in this way at:
Image by Paul Bedard.
