Our Friday evening in Turkey was
Friday afternoon in the national church offices in Louisville,
Kentucky. A small group worked late into the night in Turkey to
craft a letter of condolence and Christian solidarity. By email,
the draft was sent back to Louisville where it was signed and
dispatched by Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick by fax and email.
The communication was sent to Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian
Orthodox Church; to Reverend Yuri Sipko, president of the Union
of Evangelical Christian-Baptists of Russia; and, to Archbishop
Georg Kretschmar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia
and Other States.
In the days ahead, our planning continued for a group of three
to travel to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Our group consisted of
Francie Irwin, GAC member from Moses Lake, Washington; Les Sauer,
Worldwide Ministries Division staff, Louisville, Kentucky; and
myself. The trip had been planned for months, but the events in
Beslan gave our visits with Russian church leaders new weight
and importance.
On Monday, September 13, we drove to the Moscow offices of the
Baptist Union to await our meeting with President Yuri Sipko and
Vice President Peter Mitskevich. As our party of Presbyterians
waited in the hallway, Sipko and Mitskevich completed another
meeting with their staff dealing with the response to Beslan.
On the day of the attack, Yuri Sipko was in Beslan ministering
to the needs of the Baptist families in the community, many of
whom had children inside the school. Peter Mitskevich had just
returned to Moscow after assisting with the burial services in
the days after the attack.
The first thing Yuri Sipko said to us was, “Thank you.”
He wanted us to know that the content of the letter of the Stated
Clerk, which had been sent to Moscow, had been phoned down to
him in Beslan on Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after the
siege ended. He said, “The people of Beslan received great
comfort in the messages, the calls, the visits from Christians
around the world.” He said they had felt the prayers in
their most difficult time of need.
As we sat in our meeting, I was struck with the impossibility
of putting into words the horror experienced by those within the
school. And I was struck by the extraordinary love, Christ’s
love, which these Baptist leaders had poured out on the victims
and their families in Beslan.
Our talk turned to the practical questions of response. In the
short term, survivors and their families needed medical supplies,
food, assistance for medical expenses. Now and long into the future,
hundreds would need psychological counseling to cope with the
terror they had witnessed. The Baptists were organizing a committee
of pastors from around the country to travel to North Ossetia
to meet the spiritual needs of those affected. And there was a
clear recognition of the need for psychosocial training for pastors,
teachers, and others who would work with survivors in the months
to come.
As we parted, our friend and brother, Yuri Sipko said, “The
Army can’t help. The KGB can’t help. Only God can
help!”
The next day, Tuesday, September 14, we met with Margarita Nelyubova
of the Department of External Relations, Russian Orthodox Church.
Among her many responsibilities, Margarita is charged with coordinating
emergency response. As expected, she was deeply involved in the
Orthodox response to Beslan. She stated that state and humanitarian
organizations would offer great help in meeting some of the short-term
needs of the victims and survivors. As we had heard the day before,
Margarita stressed the long-term need for psychosocial counseling
to deal with the trauma. Common to both Orthodox and Baptist church
leaders were spiritual needs and a concern for increased suicide,
increased domestic violence, increase alcoholism, and deep depression.
All shared a common understanding of the need for trained professionals
to prepare others to work with the people of Beslan.
We proudly state that “Presbyterians do mission in partnership.”
Through this tragedy, we have the opportunity to extend our hand
in Christian love to our brothers and sisters who seek to bring
about healing and a return to wholeness. By action and by parable,
Jesus taught us how to care, He taught us how to love, and He
taught us how to share the gifts that God has so bountifully poured
upon us.
I ask that you and your congregation consider a generous gift
to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance designated for the victims
of Beslan. Click here
for details.
As we in the United States live in this harvest season, as we
approach our own Thanksgiving, may we pray deeply about how we
may share our bounty so that others, particularly those in Beslan,
may move from under the shadow of terror.
Please hold the recovering victims, the families, the pastoral,
medical, and humanitarian caregivers in your prayers.
Please hold in your prayers the people of Russia who grieve so
during this time.
Pray that God leads us away from vengeance and violence to a
place where we may all rest in Christ’s peace together.
Amen.
Gary
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
340 |
