| "Do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly offering what you can to meet that need, whatever it may be." (Deuteronomy 15: 7b-8) |
I haven't been able to keep from obsessing over thousands of people who are on the verge of starving in Gaza, an area much smaller than Rockingham County but with over two million people in urgent need of food and shelter. Multiple news sources are reporting examples of its citizens resorting to eating grass, weeds and roots of plants in a desperate attempt to survive.
On Thursday, May 9, we will have an opportunity to be a part of an outpouring of compassion for the thousands of refugees in Gaza who are without adequate shelter and facing death by starvation. A special 7 pm hymn sing using the new Voices Together hymnal has been planned at the Park View Mennonite Church to raise urgently needed help, with the VT's music editor, EMU's Ben Bergey, leading the service.
I'm sure #27 will be among the hymns chosen, the second verse of which is:
There is a knocking at our door,
sound of the homeless of the world,
voice of the frightened refugee,
cry of the children in the cold
asking the least that is their right,
safety and shelter for the night.
- Lyrics by Shirley Erena Murray of New Zealand, sung to the tune KHAO I DANG, the name of a refugee camp in Thailand.
All proceeds will go directly to Mennonite Central Committee for Gaza relief, with a matching fund of $25,000 available to multiply our efforts.
The result will help save the lives of precious members of our human family.
NOTE: If you can't attend in person, you can make an online gift directly to Mennonite Central Committee, or mark the SOS (Sharing Our Surplus) option on the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale website, where your gift will be doubled and sent to MCC. Or you can write a check to Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale (with "Gaza relief fund" on the memo line) and mail it to VMRS, 601 Parkwood Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22802.
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