Refugee/Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Appeal - November 2017
The Years the Locusts Have Eaten
How does one keep faith following a sustained tragedy? The prophet Joel importuned God, in the aftermath of a disaster in Judah, concerned that even the priests were doubting God’s presence asking, “Where is their God?!?” God responded, taking “pity on his people”: I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations…I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…
In August, I spent a week with Outreach partners in Jordan who are ministering to refugees in Jordan. The Orthodox Initiative, which we support, is under the umbrella of the Middle East Council of Churches; its director, Wafa Gassous, has a huge heart for Iraqi Christians who were driven out of their homes by ISIS in Mosul and from the surrounding villages. 250 of these families have found a haven at the Syrian Orthodox Church in Amman. I was with them on the morning when modest food parcels were distributed: rice, sugar, flour, pasta, tomato sauce, tuna, corned beef, oil and tea filled bright blue bags, neatly arranged in the courtyard of the church. Inside the crowded church hall, the families gathered. As their names were called, they came up to a table in front and presented their “ID” – for all of them, this was a photocopy of their UNHCR Asylum Seeker Certificate. They were given a slip of paper and then took that “receipt” out to the courtyard to receive their parcel. It was all done so “decently and in order” that these Syrian Orthodox (and a few Chaldean Catholic) believers might have been mistaken for Presbyterians.
I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations…I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…
Sometimes it was a woman who came to the table – some elderly, one a new mother with a two-month old baby. Often, it was the “father” and as I reflected upon the reality that these were all middle-class families who had once collected paychecks as teachers and mechanics, accountants and shopkeepers, I began to imagine my own father being compelled to do this. My father was an electrician who provided modestly but adequately for my mother, my two siblings and me. I pictured him walking humbly up to the table, probably slightly bent over and with deepening wrinkles from the stress and care and uncertainty, now needing to accept this charity. For that moment, I was one with those families and had to walk away to hide my tears as my heart broke for my father in that scenario which I saw in my head. His faith would not have wavered – of this I am sure – and the same is true for these Iraqi Christians.
I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations…I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…
One family sitting off to the side of the hall greeted me as I walked around, and I discovered that they spoke English. Russel Nagy had worked at the airport before he and his family were forced to flee. In my journal, I described the woman sitting next to him as “elderly.” I would later discover that they were both younger than me, but this tragedy had clearly aged them. By contrast, their daughter was a bright-eyed, effervescent girl of 13 or 14. Lourdes told me that she was in school in Jordan and loved to draw and paint. One of her aunts, who had worked in anesthesiology back in Mosul, showed me pictures on her cell phone – her home in ruins, destroyed by ISIS and documented by a neighbor. Russel hopes to immigrate to Canada; the aunt, to Australia. It will be a long wait and I thank God for the embrace of that local church who has given them this place to gather and be known, in that waiting…
Wafa shared with me her concern that the world has now grown weary of caring for these refugees. Her program support has dwindled to two major partners, and The Outreach Foundation is one of them.
I remain so very grateful that, until now, you have not “grown weary in well-doing, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Let us continue on this journey with our family of faith from Iraq, leaning into God’s promise that, in his perfect time, he will yet “repay them for the years the locust have eaten.”
To God be the glory,
Marilyn Borst, Associate Director for Partnership Development
Gifts for the Refugee/IDP Appeal may be made by clicking HERE or by sending a check to our main office.