Disciples Center Staff Tent of Hope Photos

National staff Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) at the Disciples Center in Indianapolis are creating their own Tents of Hope in order to raise awareness of the ongoing crisis and support for Sudanese refugees and for the Tents of Hope project.  Learn more at Raise a Tent of Hope for the people of Sudan

Disciples Center tent-raising February 2008

Dedication prayer from the Disciples tent-raising:

A Litany for the Victims of the Atrocities in Sudan
L:  In a makeshift refugee camp in Darfur, Western Sudan, a tear flows down the cheek of a defenseless mother as she strokes the arm and face of her starving child, her head is covered but her eyes convey a truth of overwhelming anguish.
P:  We will not stand idly by the blood of this child.
L:  In Darfur’s open desert, a militia of fighters backed by the Sudanese government rides rampant on camels and horses, fanning the flames of ethnic strife. Villages and towns are scorched. Food and water – the withholding of them – are used as weapons of death. And innocent people of Darfur’s African communities are forcibly abducted, enslaved, raped, and slaughtered in mass numbers as part of a systematic campaign to wipe out entire groups of peoples from the region.
P:  We will not stand idly by their blood.
L:  In the capital city of Khartoum, the face of a top official reddens in anger as he strongly denies evidence that the government of Sudan recruits and arms a militia to terrorize and murder black Africans, and blocks humanitarian access for relief workers in Darfur.
P:  And we say to him, “Do not stand idly by the blood of our neighbor!”
L:  In the eyes of the world community, the genocidal activity and terror perpetrated against millions of people of ethnic black African origin finally gain attention. We stand solidarity with every one of us and every one of them.
P:  And, in a moment of urgency and hope, we stand to remember that justice is our duty, to recognize the image of the Divine in every human life, to renounce inaction in the face of enormous tragedy, and, we pray, to rouse an immediate and effective response from the world at large on behalf of the victims of Sudan.  

Amen.

Source:  The Commission on Social Action of the Union for Reform Judaism and the National Council of Churches USA; adapted from Rabbi David Saperstein’s remarks at the Sudanese Embassy on July 22, 2004.

Disciples Tent Painting