Dear AGAC friends,
World Refugee Day is held globally on 20 June. In the Anglican calendar, we set aside July 7 (the first Sunday of July) for Refugee Sunday.
On Refugee Sunday, we are encouraged to reflect on how our faith calls us to respond to the needs of refugees, both around the world and living in our communities. The Bible is full of stories of people on the move. Joseph offered his father and brothers sanctuary in Egypt when their homeland was ravaged by famine, then 400 years later Moses lead that same people out of Egypt to freedom and a new land. Ruth left her home as a widow and worked as a migrant labourer in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph fled the violent persecution of Herod, seeking asylum once more in Egypt. Throughout all these stories we see a God who cares for the exile and the stranger.
The cover of this newsletter might have caught your eyes. It did mine powerfully! The title of the art is “RefuJesus.” The artist, David aka Naked Pastor, wrote of it:
“This image represents refugees. If you believe in Jesus, you should be able to see Jesus in the rejected, marginalised, persecuted, fleeing for life, for a better life. People ask me what’s in his burlap, I leave it to them to tell me. His halo is a barbed wire.”
I am inviting you to look at “RefuJesus” prayerfully and reflect on what Jesus might say to you.
In God’s grace,
Yukiko
