Statement from MCC East Coast Chair

Dear EMU community,

As our president Loren said in his letter, "we have been horrified by the awful catastrophes of the past week in many parts of Asia . The devastation is a stark reminder of the fragility of life and of the relative impact of challenges we face."

Ron Mathies, MCC executive director wrote that the January 3 lectionary reading from Jeremiah 31: 7-14 suggests that the spiritual vitality of the church is measured by the degree to which the suffering people of the world are taken into the center of the community of faith.

As board chair of MCC East Coast I invite you to respond to this disaster if only to remind ourselves of our connection to the suffering of others.

• Hold up in prayer the families that are suffering, the governments and international/national groups trying to respond.
  
• Make use of the multitude of resources available on the MCC web site www.mcc.org.
  
• MCC is planning an initial response of $1.4 million. Please be generous in your response.
  
• If there are ways of involving students in reflecting and/or acting on this tragedy please do so.

Thank you.

Ann Hershberger
Professor of nursing
Board chair of MCC East Coast