The first Al Mansour Syrian family to be sponsored in Belleville
Tomorrow I will lead worship at Trenton United Church while son Isaac, aka Rev. Isaac, attend what was formerly known as AGM of Conference. I will be joined in leadership by Ian Sutherland, a retired Lt. Colonel in the Canadian military and a physician. We will talk about Ian's approach to me as his pastor at the time about the possibility of sponsoring a Syrian refugee family. Our conversation occurred only days after the world was shocked by the photos of three-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi whose lifeless body had washed up on the shore of a Greek island.
While I had talked with a colleague about sponsorship this was several months before the Canadian government welcomed 30,000 Syrian refugees and we didn't have a clue as to how this could happen. Ian has remarkable organizational skills and determination, as well as a strong Christian faith and a quiet passion for justice. I knew that with his involvement this could happen, and it did. Well, the Holy Spirit may have participated too.
Little did I know that there would be a tremendous outpouring of response from practical, hard-working, faith-full people who gave generously of their time and energy and dollars to bring the first family of five, which arrived in December of 2015. Some of the most dedicated are readers of this blog, but there were more than 100 volunteers from seven different faith communities, including the Belleville mosque. And of course bringing this family to Canada was just a beginning. Now 23 members of the family are new Canadians, living in Belleville, going to school, working, making a life in relative peace.
I often think that God saved the best for last in my ministry. I have been blessed with many remarkable experiences as a pastor through the decades, working and worshipping alongside wonderful, selfless people. Nothing surpassed this enterprise and I'm both humbled and grateful to have been a part of it.
If you want to hear more, join us at Trenton UC tomorrow morning. Plenty of good news will be shared as we gather to be people of Christ's Good News.
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