Lebanon relief efforts reflect ‘Christ’s love shining’ in darkness

Central Lebanon’s Deir el-Ahmar was a quiet, predominantly Christian town fairly isolated from the fighting between Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces that broke out in Beirut, Lebanon, and towns along southern Lebanon’s border with Israel. A number of its houses stood empty — mute witnesses to those who had exited to other parts of the world but could not bear to part with their beloved family homes.

Then came the flood of refugees — mostly Shiite Muslims whose villages were being used by Hezbollah to launch missiles into northern Israel. Air strikes against the launch sites had destroyed their houses and sent them fleeing north.

The response of the Christians in Deir el-Ahmar? The town’s residents opened their doors to the Muslim families. And the vacant houses were opened up as well.

“It is a sign of brotherhood and a witness for the unity of Lebanon,” Simon Atallah, Deir el-Ahmar’s Maronite bishop, told Catholic News Service.

“[W]e Christians must be in solidarity with everyone, even with the Shiites who support Hezbollah,” he said.

Across Lebanon, from mountains of refuge in the north to the chaotic neighborhoods of Beirut, Christian people are demonstrating the love of Christ for Muslims driven from their homes by the fighting.

For a month now, Lebanese Christian groups have been housing and feeding thousands of displaced families in their own homes and in places like Beirut Baptist School and Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut.

Lebanon’s Christian and Muslim populations have been deeply divided for centuries; a 15-year civil war ended only 16 years ago. Christians have been reluctant to reach out across those barriers — especially evangelicals, who comprise less than 1 percent of the population and often are not well received even by other, more traditional Christian groups.

“It’s been really neat, however, to see the way God uses circumstances like these,” said a Southern Baptist worker in the United States who is close to the situation in Lebanon. “He says, ‘If you are not able or willing to go to them, I will bring them to you — to your schools, to your neighborhoods, to your doorsteps.’

“Christians are showing genuine love to people they don’t usually deal with, in certain cases to people they see as the source of the problems they face,” he said. “Even though they aren’t completely comfortable with it, they are realizing they are able to love these people, not because of their own ability, but because they have the love of Christ inside.” (BP)