Show kindness and offer practical help

This year International Women’s Day fell on March 8. It held a particular sadness for women across Europe as the people of Ukraine remain at the front and centre of our concern and our prayers. I thought of the courageous women who serve in the Ukrainian armed forces, the countless mothers who are fleeing alone with their children to neighbouring countries and the vulnerable women who remain increasingly trapped in cities that are being bombed. I thought also of women in Russia – the brave protesters being arrested and the mothers of soldiers, waiting anxiously for news and praying desperately that their sons will return.

This week is also the first week of Lent, where Christians across the world observe 40 days of fasting, prayer and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. It is a time when we reflect deeply on our own human selfishness and pride, and the needless suffering that we cause each other.

Human wickedness can be extreme, but we do not despair, because we are all able to act in ways that bring light and hope to any situation. In our own local communities we have seen an outpouring of generosity towards the many appeals for money and goods for charities helping the humanitarian work in Ukraine. We are reminded that there are many refugees from war zones such as Afghanistan and Syria right here on our doorstep here in Sussex.

In Crawley recently I met a number of asylum seekers from Iran, who have received wonderful hospitality in their local church community. As they told me of their dangerous journeys escaping persecution, I was reminded that the God who I worship is Jesus Christ, who was himself a refugee child, raised in a family who had to flee a murderous tyrant. While we may feel powerless to stop the suffering in Ukraine, we can at least show kindness and offer practical help to the refugees who are already here – each one of them made in the image of God and worthy of utmost dignity and respect.