Hundreds of migrants traveling by fishing boat across the Mediterranean Sea are feared dead after a boat sank off the coast of Kalamata in southwest Greece. As of Tuesday afternoon, a total of 81 bodies had been found while 104 people have been rescued. The boat was on its way from Libya to Italy when it sunk. There are estimates that more than 700 people were on board at the time. Authorities are still searching the area for potential survivors as well as the bodies of those who died.
A worship liturgy to acknowledge our fatigue and grief and remind ourselves of God’s companionship, guidance and faithfulness.
Creative endeavors — music, painting, baking, writing — can be a powerful outlet in times of crisis to free the mind from routines and foster growth.
Representatives from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are spending Holy Week in parts of Europe, following the path of Syrian refugees who fled war and violence at home and are seeking safety in other parts of the world.
While meeting in Lake Balaton, Hungary, the first week of September for a Presbyterian World Mission conference themed “The Church without Walls,” news broke that thousands of asylum seekers, most from the Middle East, had crowded into Keleti train station in the heart of Budapest, and that the station was closed.
Heavy snow, flooding, wildfires, earthquakes and tornadoes. Depending on where you live, chances are you have experienced one of these over the course of the year. The disasters in 2015 have cost communities billions of dollars in lost homes, businesses and services. Support organizations have been working non-stop to help families settle into temporary shelters while their damaged homes are being repaired.
The Syrian refugee crisis has drawn increased attention this week with the heartbreaking photos of a lifeless child’s body being pulled from the Aegean Sea. Alyan Kurdi was one of at least a dozen refugees who drowned while seeking safety from the conflict in Syria. In the past few days, thousands more refugees have found themselves stranded at a Budapest train station as they seek to cross the border into Austria.
As ISIS continues its aggression in the Middle East, pastors in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Armenia and Jordan have found themselves on the receiving end of thousands of refugees. Churches are serving as a place of refuge and home for displaced Christians who have left with only the clothes on their backs.
There is supposedly an ancient Chinese curse, may you live in interesting times. I suppose, that for people who value security and predictability, uninteresting times are preferable, if slightly boring. Otherwise, interesting is better. No one with access to world news could possibly argue that these are not interesting times for those of us with connections in Russia and the former Soviet Union. Recent events in Ukraine and the subsequent reabsorption of the Crimean peninsula into Russia have made for constant headlines.