A note for pastors from Dawn Ranck, pastor at Plains Mennonite Church
In Philip Yancey’s book Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference, he writes that “Praying can be a risky enterprise, I have found, as the Spirit often convicts me of the very thing I am praying about. ‘Lord, help my neighbor, a single mother, in her hard life.’ Hmm, have I offered to take her son skiing lately?'”
At Plains, we have been praying for Iraq since before the war began over four years ago. Recently Lutheran Children and Family Services learned that up to 100 Iraqi refugees will be arriving in Southeastern Pennsylvania in the next few months. We are realizing that we can, in part, be God’s answers to our own prayers for peace in Iraq by hosting an Iraqi family in our community. Will you join us in answering prayers by hosting a family at your church? Lutheran Children and Family Services is in desperate need of congregations to assist. Yancey continues, “Those of us who struggle with unanswered prayer dare not overlook an important theological truth about how God acts in this world today. The church is the body of Christ, and as such it does God’s work . . . God has chosen to express love and grace in the world through those of us who embody Christ.”
For more information about hosting an Iraqi family contact Lyn Back at (215) 747-7500 Ext. 207 or email her at lynb@lcfsinpa.org or Janet Panning (215) 747-7500 Ext. 209; janetp@lcfsinpa.org.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.