Pray with Armenia/Lebanon, November 3, 2024
Lectionary Selection: Ruth 1:1-18
Prayers for Armenia/Lebanon
Dear God of creation and hope, God of life and growth, God of forgiveness and redemption, today the people of Armenia and Lebanon are both drinking a bitter cup, tasting sorrow after sorrow. Like Naomi, they are bereft of a future and a hope, crushed by death after death, watching their family tree being hacked to the ground, left with no option but to spend their lives in search a safe place to merely survive. Yet somehow, precious Lord, in the person of Ruth you provided Naomi with faithful love and companionship, and a renewal of faith and hope. Just so, please remember the people of Armenia and Lebanon, facing not just the cruelty of their circumstances, but the active aggression of their neighbors. Teach their leaders to be wise and far-sighted; teach their people to be understanding and caring of each other; teach their neighbors the meaning of justice, mercy, and peace. Unite your church in earnestly praying as you taught us, that “your kingdom come and your will be done,” here and now, and in the age to come. Amen.
Mission Moment from Armenia/Lebanon
Hovering over our heads is the monotonous sound of death – Israeli drones, like those hovering over the destruction in Gaza, and like those Azerbaijan bought from Israel in order to annihilate Armenian soldiers in the largely-forgotten Artsakh War of Fall 2020. Now (as of this writing), they hover in networks of thousands, enabling the unhindered bombing of the capital as well as many Lebanese towns and villages.
On the ground, however, is the movement of life. Students at Haigazian University decided that they were going to gather supplies to support the organizations involved in relief work. The university is a partner organization of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, and belongs to the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East. As airstrikes intensified, so also did this student-led effort, in a near replication of their endeavors during the country’s economic meltdown beginning in 2019, or the supplies they gathered following the Beirut Port explosion in 2020. Christian and Muslim, Armenian and Arab, all work side-by-side to assist the displaced or nearby low-income residents.
The situation on the ground in Armenia is not the same. Armenians who fled Azeri forces surrounding the Artsakh homeland in a so-called “voluntary departure” in Fall 2023 were cared for through a number of local projects, including the ongoing work of the Armenian Missionary Association of America, but there was neither urgency nor action from world powers. The selectively-applied concept of “territorial integrity” pushed aside values such as justice, mercy, and human dignity – values that Jesus Christ embodied and preached, and for which he died.
Here in Lebanon and, as we are able, in Armenia, we stand with our partners, following the path of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lifted up the worth of individuals and peoples to live in safety and without fear, as we obey the Lord, who is the “father of the fatherless and protector of the widow” (Psalm 68.5).
Written by: Nishan & Maria Bakalian, Mission Co-Workers with the UAECNE, Beirut, Lebanon
Partners in Armenia
Partners in Lebanon