I have been following the media and listening to strong statements like “ after careful deliberation, I determined that it is in the national security interests of the United States to respond to the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike. The purpose of this strike would be to deter Assad from using chemical weapons, to degrade his regime's ability to use them, and make clear to the world that we will not tolerate their use” Different questions arise, is violence stopped by violence? This could save some lives but again some will be killed. What should be the role of the church at this point of crisis in Syria and other nations that are struck by different catastrophes? What I have seen the majority of us tend to do is to pray, give food, send money but Stay away.
As we cry out to God for the Syrian people to be rescued from all the violence and have peace ,there are those who are hurting and in shock now in refugee camps and I would Imagine the best we can do as the church is to show up ,express our love and share the pain in a such a moment. It becomes challenging at times when the people or a nation hurt is against our faith, we either watch while in fear for our lives or just go and be the Gospel instead of talking about it. Hurting people are less concerned about our belief, during the Rwandan Genocide what people needed most was a place of rescue and comfort, when people are in deep pain they don’t need your words they need your touch and help, the greater the grief the fewer the words needed.

This has caused me to ponder deeply on my commitment as a christian on discovering and addressing the roots of human problems around the world and asking myself what are the roots of the Syrian crisis and how can they be addressed? How can we change our sorrows into someone else’s hope? May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon Syria.