From Adventist Review:
ADRA made a sweeping call for compassion in the global refugee crisis on Monday, which is United Nations World Refugee Day and comes two days after the Seventh-day Adventist Church marked World Refugee Sabbath with sermons, fundraising, and live broadcasts from refugee camps.
Read full story:
http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story4120-adra-appeals-for-compassion-on-world-refugee-day
From The Presbyterian Outlook:
“As Americans we need to acknowledge that this fear of the stranger has been a recurring undercurrent of our national life,” she said. Brewer cited a number of ways that fear has played out in U.S. history: the Know Nothing Movement against the Irish, the House Committee on Un-American activities; the Chinese Exclusion Index against Chinese Americans; and the Nisei camp in which Japanese Americans were interred.
Read full story: https://pres-outlook.org/2016/06/pcusa-called-respond-refugees/
From Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice
On the other side of the border wall, migrants face insurmountable challenges to “make it” in the Empire. Targeted by a fear-based dogmatic of racism, lack of political will to reform immigration, and heightened vulnerability to crime, migrants and refugees in our age lack basic protections that most citizens take for granted. While too many who take the journey do not make it to the other side of the border wall, those who do manage to cross then face countless invisible borders to overcome daily.
Read full story: http://justiceunbound.org/carousel/welcoming-christ-in-the-stranger/
From The Alliance:
Walking the streets of a northern European city recently, I saw refugees everywhere. Listening to their stories of escape from danger and destruction in their homeland was heartbreaking.
Read full story: http://www.cmalliance.org/news/2016/06/20/remember-the-brokenhearted-on-world-refugee-day/
Have you thought of what you want to say on Father’s Day to your dad, whether in person, over the phone, or in writing? For those of us who are dads, we are grateful for words of affirmation (or a tie) from our kids, yet we are aware of our weighty responsibility.
Read full story: http://www.cmalliance.org/news/2016/06/18/standing-for-the-fatherless/
From The Episcopal Diocese of Texas news:
“Indeed, we must find a way to end war, but we must find a way to end the suffering of human beings who are forced from their homes,” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry notes in his 2016 World Refugee Day message.
Read full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/presiding-bishop-curry-world-refugee-day-we-must-find-way-end-suffering-human
From Adventist Today:
Students and faculty at Friedensau Adventist University (FAU) in Germany have organized two recent events to reach out in compassion to the refugees arriving in their country from the war in the Middle East. A charity run raised funds for the Language Cafe in the nearby town of Burg where refugee adults and children learn German. A workshop for volunteers working to help refugees took place on the following Sunday (June 5) from 10 am to 5 pm.
Read full story: http://atoday.org/friedensau-adventist-university-takes-action-refugees-germany.html
From Adventist World:
The plight of refugees has been described as a humanitarian crisis, which indeed it is. Desperation, fear, and hopelessness drive people to flee the countries of their birth and seek asylum and new beginnings elsewhere. One can hardly imagine the despair that motivates people to leave their loved ones, homes, and familiar surroundings and head for—well, they cannot be sure; wherever might accept them. Such pain and uncertainty are difficult to grasp. It has been heart-wrenching to witness the undiluted suffering, stress, fear, and uncertainty that characterize the news coverage of this human tragedy. The tragic death of a young child whose body was found on a Turkish beach has become an international symbol of the heartache.
Read full story: http://www.adventistworld.org/2016/june/the-refugee-plight.html
Because compassion is such an intricate part of who God is, throughout history Satan has sought to destroy and obliterate that characteristic in God’s children. Wars, famines, violence, and the desensitization of society through various media, power-grabbing, pride, self-centeredness, escapism, covetousness, nihilism, and more—all are calculated to turn our thoughts from the plight of others to ourselves and erase all compassion from our hearts.
Read full story: http://www.adventistworld.org/2016/june/complete-compassion.html
I realized that I would likely die either in prison or trying to escape. So I chose to escape, because I didn’t want to give up. I wanted to be able to come back to life again.
Read full story: http://www.adventistworld.org/2016/june/refugee-and-his-adventist-friend.html
From Presbyterian Record:
When St. Andrew’s, Kitchener, Ont., was paired with a refugee family in January, they were told the family would arrive within three days to a week. “We’d been told that all the medical and security checks were done, and they were simply waiting for travel,” Rev. Mark Lewis said. Almost six months later, they are still waiting; and they are not the only ones.
Read full story: http://presbyterianrecord.ca/2016/06/20/churches-still-waiting-for-arrival-of-sponsored-refugees/
From The Baptist Standard:
As the days have passed at the refugee camp, there have been families I’ve come to know and love, children who I could see playing on my street back in Plano, or younger adults who would fit in perfectly at my university. How bittersweet is it that I get to put names and faces to the people I’ve only ever heard about on the news?
Read full story:
https://www.baptiststandard.com/opinion/missions/19200-greece-breaking-fast-with-muslim-refugees
From Religion News Service:
Religious and humanitarian groups have urged Kenya to delay the closure of the camp. Clergy, in particular, have warned of a potential humanitarian crisis in the Eastern Africa region if the camp is closed.
Read full story: http://religionnews.com/2016/06/21/closure-of-kenyan-refugee-camp-worries-religious-leaders/