We’ve read the headlines, we’ve seen the breaking news updates, we’ve shared or retweeted posts of pictures that are almost impossible to put away. We shouldn’t. We mustn’t. Try as we may to mentally distance ourselves from the horror that is the Russian/Ukrainian conflict, we cannot. Oh, we’re thousands of miles and an ocean away, but the road that stretches from Jerusalem to Jericho (as told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke) winds its way to Wheeling and the parable still pierces us with the question: “Who is my neighbor?” The short answer is anyone who hungers for the hope and peace found in Christ Jesus. I, you, we, they need to receive and find ways of reciprocating a blessed peace for the broken pieces we see. We dare not walk the side of the road and pass by silently.
Friends, as United Methodists, we comprise a global, 13 million-member body. That means that those of us at Christ Church are indelibly tied hand-to-hand with those who hurt in Kyiv and Kharkiv and other affected regions of Ukraine. UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief), our denomination’s Disaster Response Team has constructed channels to provide aid. What can we do? First, we lean collectively on the power of prayer. Will you join me in this prayer offered by Kayla Craig (umcdiscipleship.org):
Secondly, I invite you to seek opportunities to give directly to relief efforts:
1) Write a check to CUMC with “Advance #982450” on the memo line.
2.) Scan this QR code with your smartphone to be directed to the church’s online giving platform: Select “Please give now,” and then note “UMCOR Aid to Ukraine” in the giving menu window.
3.) Scan this QR code to be directed to UMCOR’s Website in order to give:
Thirdly, create a space in this Lenten season of 40 days to be in worship, online or otherwise, with fellow brothers and sisters of this faith family and allow the power of God’s word to purvey the peace you need for the shattered pieces of the soul.
