Syrian Relief - April 2015 Update
Syria
Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation…Habakkuk 3
For the past three years, the first half of that Habakkuk text has been all too true for our Presbyterian family in Syria – constant war and an even-more-frightening evil that is ISIS have wreaked havoc and caused destruction and deprivation and displacement. Many of you have stood by the Church with your support and prayers from the beginning of their ordeal, even as others have joined them in solidarity along the journey. To date, The Outreach Foundation has empowered the Church in Syria with your gifts to the Syria Appeal totaling over $400,000 for food, shelter, counseling, tuition and medical care. It has also allowed the Church to reach out to others in need in Christ’s name.
But lest we despair for them, we must lay hold of the second half of that text, which begins with “yet”…Yet I will exalt…yet I will rejoice…WE must not despair because THEY do not! And these images from this past Holy Week confirm it, as you witness our Presbyterian family in places like Homs and Damascus and Lattakia doing what the Church has done and will continue to do until Christ returns to claim his Bride: reenacting his passion and partaking of the sacrament, preparing our children to process with palms and ordaining new elders, lighting luminaries to dispel the darkness of Good Friday and breaking forth in song as Easter dawns with the assurance of the resurrection…yet once more!
Joyfully,
Marilyn Borst, Associate Director for Partnership Development
More Holy Week Images from Syria
Faithful Women to Lebanon: Come and meet sisters from Syria, Lebanon and Iraq this summer!
The Outreach Foundation invites you to consider joining a group of women from Presbyterian churches around the U.S. on a unique mission vision journey to the Middle East. The group will meet, learn about and build personal relationships with Presbyterian women from Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Led by Marilyn Borst, The Outreach Foundation’s Associate Director for Partnership Development, we will depart from the States on July 24, arriving in Beirut July 25. We will spend Sunday, July 26 worshipping with a Presbyterian congregation in Beirut, followed by an afternoon of sightseeing. On Monday morning, we will drive up into the mountains to the lovely conference and retreat center of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon at Dhour Schweir, where we will spend the rest of the trip with 80 Presbyterian sisters from the Middle East in a time of learning, fellowship and exuberant worship. We will fly home on July 31. The $1,760 land cost includes lodging (double occupancy), meals, sightseeing, airport pickup/delivery as well as a stipend to assist those traveling from Syria and Iraq. It does not include round trip airfare. Space is limited so please indicate your interest ASAP to Lisa Dill: lisa@theoutreachfoundation.org (615) 778-8881.