[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: [CWWC] RECONCILIATION IN THE MIDST OF PAIN

[Michael Moore]

From: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io
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Sent: Thursday, September 2, 2021 10:34 AM
To: Mr. Ed
Subject: EXT: [CWWC] RECONCILIATION IN THE MIDST OF PAIN

 


RECONCILIATION IN THE MIDST OF PAIN


All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave
us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to
himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has
committed to us the message of reconciliation.
<https://link.biblegateway.com/click/24927073.1721/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmlibGVnY
XRld2F5LmNvbS9wYXNzYWdlLz9zZWFyY2g9MkNvci41LjE4LTJDb3IuNS4xOQ/5ef562bd102223
74f46b6174B1fb741ea> 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

The first of September is a memorial day for the people of Beslan in North
Ossetia as they remember the awful events of September first 2004. More than
one thousand children and adults were taken hostage in School Number One and
two days later more than three hundred and thirty of them were killed in the
violence.

Memorial services are held and memories of the nightmare overwhelm everyone
in town. Beslan's cemetery is unique; it has the youngest average age in the
world (7-12 years old). The sight of so many graves of children deeply
affects any visitor. One said, "People who do not live in Beslan have often
forgotten the tragedy already, but as soon as you enter the city, you cannot
escape the atmosphere of grief and deep mourning that is still enveloping
the city."

When the tragedy occurred at School Number One, almost every family in
Beslan was affected. A peculiarity in Ossetia is that nearly everybody is
related to one another, so the catastrophe has affected many people in a
personal way. Even those who were watching television during the event
suffered diseases, heart attacks and strokes.

Pastor Taimuraz Totiev and his wife Ria had their five children at school;
only the eldest daughter, Madina, survived the attack. Their four other
children, Larissa, Luba, Albina and Boris, were buried on September 7, 2004.

The pastor's brother, Sergey Totiev, also had children at the school. Sergey
and his wife Bela buried two of their children on the same day: Dzerassa
(15) and Anna (9). Their son Azamat lost his sight in one of his eyes and is
having surgery to save his other eye.

Both men are pastors of the Beslan Baptist Church. At the children's funeral
Sergey spoke of forgiveness and advised people not to seek revenge, but to
serve as peacemakers. His exact words were: "Yes, we have an irreplaceable
loss, but we cannot take revenge. As Christians, the Bible teaches us that
we must forgive. Vengeance is in God's hands." According to a Christian
worker in the area, a demonic plan was broken when those words were spoken!

Since that time they have been doing everything they can think of to
minister to families of the victims. Other churches and ministries have also
taken up the enormous task of counseling and helping the survivors and the
bereaved. Others decided to reach out to Chechen people (nationality of the
neighboring terrorists) and are finding ways to minister God's love to them.

RESPONSE: Today I commit to being a messenger of God's reconciliation
through Christ-even to those who may cause harm to me or my family.

PRAYER: Pray for the church to be an instrument of reconciliation and
restoration in this volatile area of Central Asia.

Provided by Bible Gateway:

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