Daily Worship

Refugees

September 14, 2015 0 0

Ruth 1:1-5

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion.They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

I watch the crisis unfold on the TV screen
I see it spread across the papers
It fills the screen of my computer, my tablet, my phone
There is no escaping
They demand my attention
The Christ light in me 
Recognises the alien and stranger
As one of us
All in this together.
Just like Naomi
They never thought it would come to this
Me!  a refugee
Leaving home and house behind
Possessions given up to the wind
A few things flung in a bag for the road
On the run from empty fields, 
Empty barns, empty pots, empty stomachs.
Our life was once good…
work, home, community.
And the journey is difficult
Our hearts are heavy
Not everyone makes it
Many are lost on the way
And when we arrive
Dead or alive 
The welcome is stony cold
Bereft of warmth, bereft of humanity.

O Lord, God of the alien and stranger,
God of the refugee
Fill me with your compassion
Challenge my complacency
Enlarge my heart
Channel your love through me.  Amen.