A Matter of the Heart

A Matter of the Heart

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We passively watch the war. It is heartbreaking to watch. Families separating at the border, women and children heading to safer asylum. Men heading back to protect and fight for their homes. Out-staffed and out-gunned, the Ukrainians are holding their own against?heavy odds.

Communities of Care

As I researched for agencies who provide support to the war- torn land, there was a recurring theme: the agencies centralized the resources and used the local churches to distribute them. So, in the face of enormous upheaval, it was the bravery of the in-situ folks bonded by their church community who made a significant difference to their neighbors’ welfare. A dear friend introduced me to the African concept of Ubuntu (a Zulu word) that recognizes the power of the community and its cohesive bond of mutual concern. The accepted African phrase is “I am because we are.” Ubuntu is a recognition that man is created in and for community. Ubuntu implies we have a responsibility to not just our neighbor but a responsibility to our world. This, of course, reminds us of the Genesis story with the charge of care we have to all of creation. Ubuntu is about the care for humanity and creation.

A mechanism of care in this age and proven in this current Ukrainian carnage is the church: that amorphous group beyond the physical buildings and noise that often defines it, sometimes belies it. The church community is clearly an agent of care, together and separately, to the displaced in Ukraine and to the refugees swarming the neighboring countries, over four million people in a month and growing.

The community of care itself is, of course, also under siege and in the process of being displaced by war. That community itself needs support. It is difficult to find an effective way to support this invisible community of care and will be even more difficult to find ways to provide support in the critical post war reconstruction. There is a growing need for partnering with these native communities of care but how? Not to rebuild the bricks and mortar but the more vital, less visible fabric of ubuntu. The need to comfort the exhausted leadership.The powerful balm of friendship.?Partnering in friendship and concern is the softer yet critical side of reconstruction.

A matter of the heart

In thinking about this partnership, it is helpful to go back to the basics of care. Care is as the French say, “une affaire de Coeur,” a beautiful phrase meaning an affair of the heart. This is not a romantic notion; it reflects that the ultimate motivation for care is a matter of the heart. Motivations of the heart move us to take chances; to face overwhelming odds. To face the truth, despite outcomes. It is the basis for courage. It is not a creed but a basis for action. History abounds with the examples. Of Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad. Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the German underground church. Of Viktor Frankl’s writing about the power of hope in highly uncertain circumstances.?

The French have another great phrase for this call to action, “engagement du Coeur.” Engaging the heart in difficult and desperate situations. It is the situation where a friend goes out of their way to support and rescue a friend.

In this crazy, mixed-up world of geopolitical/economic confusion, we need friends of care. We need more communities of hope who can be instruments of blessing to others. There is no doubt in my mind that this can be and, in limited ways, is being done; but we do not hear much about them.

Modern technologies provide a way to help. Friendship requires effective communication, even spanning thousands of miles. I was on a Zoom call with a key leader in Latvia who was supporting church leadership in Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, and the balance of Eurasia. It was a powerful time to hear and encourage those in the direct line of fire. Often the first instincts of communication today are to broadcast self-interest and absent are the disciplines for listening and entering a productive dialogue of care. But this can change, witness Stanley McChrystal’s “Team of Teams” in which he describes communicating efficiently as a dialog and listening to each other.

A good friend, Juan Wagenveld, has committed his life to forming productive communities worldwide. His group operates in more than 50 countries worldwide and over the last 11 years, the group has been instrumental in forming over 40,000 of these communities led by indigenous leaders. In a recent book, he writes, “The creation story is telling us right up front that in the same way God is community (Trinitarian), humans will better reflect His image when we are in community.” Wagenveld goes on to quote Genesis about “being fruitful and multiplying,” a charge to man and woman, after having given them the blessing of God.

The wonderful and hopeful message to me amidst the carnage and ruin is the existence of communities of care: the committed in those communities are agents of hope. When and however the Ukrainian carnage ends, there will remain a toxic core that prosecuted this abomination and it will be the communities of the hopeful that will be agents of restoration and hope (thank you Viktor Frankl). A community of peacemakers who will lead the charge to reconciliation and reconstruction. We need more of these communities around the world.

?May it be so!