The 27th of January (the liberation day of Auschwitz-Birkenau) has become Holocaust Memorial Day. It remembers both the holocaust and the genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Darfur and Rwanda.
At Comfort International we join with those around the world, and especially our partners and friends at Good News International, Solace Ministries and Comfort Rwanda and the communities that they serve, in remembering.
The theme this year is ‘One Day’.
For those who lived through genocide each day was a fight for survival. For many there were years of suffering, deprivation, fear and heartache, but for so many there is one day in which their lives were broken by the death of loved ones. One day when those who sought their destruction found their families, their children, their husbands/wives and showed no mercy. That day lives on in the memory of those who survived for ever and we are called by the bible to weep with those who weep.
We rejoice that we see so much healing and reconciliation in Rwanda, including within the communities that our partners serve so faithfully, and that repentance and forgiveness are so much in evidence, and for those we give thanks…
…but today is primarily a day to stand with those who weep for the loss of those they loved and a day to recommit ourselves to be a blessing on the earth in our calling as peacemakers of Jesus.
Mourn with those who mourn.
Romans 12:15b