When Juliana Taimoorazy of Iraqi Christian Relief Council (ICRC) called me last week to invite me to Washington, D.C. for a prayer vigil in solidarity with persecuted Christians in Iraq and Syria, I hesitated in deciding whether to stay home or attend. As the President of HEAL, with our focus on the plight of widows and orphans in Nigeria and Cameroon, why would I attend this event?
Upon further reflection, I decided to attend for a few reasons. The first is that Juliana, though her focus is on the interests and plight of her fellow Assyrians, wholeheartedly supports HEAL and our mission to the marginalized poor in Africa. You may have seen Juliana at HEAL’s recent annual benefit on September 2. Secondly, I realized the common bond our respective missions have in solidarity with our fellow Christians who suffer religious persecution.
As I’ve shared with you before in this newsletter, HEAL serves not only orphans and widows from southern Nigeria but also takes refugees from northern villages attacked by the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram. We also receive postulants from the North, who have experienced the ravages of terror first hand. So, standing in solidarity with Assyrian Christians by attending this prayer vigil was aligned completely with HEAL’s mission work.
The most moving part of the vigil was the showing of the short film, Sing A Little Louder, produced by ICRC. It recounts an event in Nazi Germany when a train filled with Jewish captives and headed for death camps stops momentarily next to a church on a Sunday during worship. The Christians began singing a hymn loudly in order to drown out the audible cries of the Jewish captives. They missed their opportunity to stand for justice.
But, looking with the eyes of faith and seeing that the Body of Christ is both one and worldwide, the doors of solidarity open and we realize that we are our brother’s keepers no matter how far away they may be.