Our Connected World
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Our Connected World

Situated outside of Lilongwe, Malawi, is Dzaleka Refugee Camp. It currently hosts over 55,000 refugees from African countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda in an area intended for only 10,000. Some of these refugees came long ago, spillage from previous wars as far back as the 1960s. They came as…

From Refugee to Family
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From Refugee to Family

As we watch the gut-wrenching conflict coverage coming out of Ukraine, many of us are wondering what we can do to help. Images of destroyed shelters, video footage of babies too premature to be evacuated and news reports of civilian bodies in the streets are impossible to ignore – they cry out for justice. On…

Cyprus 1974 and Ukraine 2022
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Cyprus 1974 and Ukraine 2022

The current Russo-Ukrainian war brings back difficult memories of another conflict that occurred in my youth and displaced virtually all of my paternal relatives from their homes. It was July 1974. I had just completed my first year of university at Bethel College in Minnesota where I was majoring in music. During that summer, I…

We were strangers
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We were strangers

I’m sitting at my desk, looking out a new window, trying not to think about the seed catalogue which arrived today in the mail. We moved to a new house before Christmas and, for the first time, there is a bedroom for each of the children and a back garden with grass. It might not…

Doing and undoing
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Doing and undoing

I sat down at a table after church for a sociable cup of coffee. At first there was no room, but somebody moved aside so I could squeeze in. I remarked, “Thanks for the room; I’m not a refugee.”

What does the Lord require?
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What does the Lord require?

Christian worship stimulated at least the four of us – Paul, Esmé, Betsey and me – and many more in the congregation towards this project as a desire to do justice. Might we have joined the sponsorship group without that Sunday worship? Who knows?