By Laura Evans Mahn
Her eyes have seen the unthinkable. Her mouth has been unquenched. Her ears have strained to hear a familiar voice, maybe some laughter, maybe. Her stomach asks to be satisfied. Her legs walk to gather water, to work the fields, to one day go to school. Hers is a body filled with hope. We are the Body of Christ, working together to see her hope fulfilled.
Because so many eyes witness the unthinkable, there must be eyes that see hope. Because so many ears hear the ringing of solitude or the explosion of disaster, there must be mouths to speak words of love. Because there are so many bellies that cry out to be nourished, there must be hands to feed them. Because so many feet walk such long, lonely paths, there must be legs of strength to walk alongside them. Because so many bodies are broken, the Body of Christ, the whole body, with all of its various parts, is at work in the world.
As Disciples of Christ, we know that we are but one part of the Body of Christ. Our commitment to Christian unity, to the full expression of the love of Jesus our Christ and our commitment to being courageously compassionate, are joined together in the ministries of our Council on Christian Unity and our Week of Compassion. The world experiences these two visible expressions of our faith – compassion and unity — each time we walk in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in need.
People around the world are filled with hope because the Week of Compassion works day-in and day-out in partnership with Christians and churches around the world: responding to disasters, rebuilding communities, offering food and medicine as concrete expressions of care. And as we celebrate the gift of hope, we celebrate our commitment to unity that makes so much of this hope possible.
The Disciples of Christ are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Council on Christian Unity this year as we continue to seek to strengthen our ties to the one Church, the Body of Christ, in its witness and service, its mission and ministry, its compassion and caring.
We are indeed a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.
[Laura Evans Mahn serves as the CCU’s representative to the Week of Compassion Committee in strengthening the relationship between these two vital ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)]
