January 2007

Dear Week of Compassion Family and Friends,

New Year’s greetings and welcome to the Week of Compassion website. We appreciate your connecting with us here and hope you find the site informative, inspiring and user-friendly. Your comments and ideas about the site are welcome, and we hope you’ll feel free to share them with us. You are an integral part of the work and witness of WOC, and we want to share that work with you.

As we move from an old year to a new year, many of us find this to be a time for laying aside old habits and wounds, asking forgiveness for poor choices and resolving to live a healthier, more hopeful and wholesome life. And perhaps for some of us, as individuals, we might even succeed - for awhile. How we wish the world could lay aside its old (and often deadly) habits. . . of wars, violence, and ancient hatreds. . . of vicious storms, earthquakes and other natural calamities. . . of economic disparity, climate degradation, political deception - that seemingly pay no heed to our hopes and prayers.

As the old year ended and the new year began, we have seen no ending to the human tragedy around us. Darfur continues to descend into a hellish nightmare and many of its neighboring countries stand on the brink. Earthquakes, tsunamis and floods continue to compound and complicate recovery efforts from the December 24, 2004 tsunami. Bitter winter weather threatens the lives of thousands still homeless from the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. Thousands still struggle to rebuild homes, livelihoods and lives from the recent war in southern Lebanon. And this is to say nothing of the scores of natural and human disasters that strike the lives of thousands of people almost daily across the U.S. and around the world. Hardly a day goes by that Week of Compassion does not receive a request from a partner somewhere in this country, somewhere in this world, in response to some human pain and suffering.

But it is not a time for despair, and hope does abound. Disciples across the whole church continue to provide, abundantly and generously, the resources WOC needs to do the work the whole church has asked us to do. We are blessed with remarkable, effective, often courageous church partners that enable Disciples to join with caring Christians around the world in living out the ministry to which Christ has called us on behalf of God’s most vulnerable children. So, whatever this new year brings, WOC is committed to being there as a hopeful and helpful presence for all Disciples. Thank you for the opportunity.

God bless,

Johnny Wray
Amy Gopp

P.S. Congregations are already making preparations for this year’s Week of Compassion celebration. We are excited about the many possibilities of the theme, “Who Is My Neighbor?”, and are pleased with the new resources to assist congregations in their observances. If you need additional materials, if you have comments, suggestions, ideas to share - let us here from you. Thanks, jww and ag