By Guest Blogger Carrie Settle
I admit, when the Syrian Refugee Crisis was starting to be a crisis, I was rather unaware. My life was very full and often trying as I continued to pursue different avenues towards healing from a car accident as well as parenting 2 high needs kids. So on this particular Sunday morning at church I was unprepared for the abrupt right turn my life was about to take.
Pastor Vernon spoke of this crisis of humanity, of how as Christians its our responsibility to love others, to help, to accept, to pray, to…hook a rug? I couldn’t sit still, Pastor kept talking but the Holy Spirit was moving me towards to crayons and paper left in an area for kids… I was a kid, right? I could see blood, colors, movement but constraint, flashes of ideas and meanings. I worked for several days to get the images to come together and they were revealed through a previous artwork of a friend. I adapted his idea and shaped it to be the “Refugee Child”. It is my great hope, that you will SEE this child, that you will love him/her. For ease of typing, I will call this Child “him”.
Refugee Child is neither male nor female, white nor black, young nor old. The Child has a wrap around his head, made of the sins of others. The wrap covers his eyes so he cannot see a way out, it covers his mouth so he cannot speak to his own defense and it covers his hands, so he cannot work towards his own solution. His knee is skinned…he bleeds just like us. He is trapped in a box of public opinion, each separate piece of wool representing a separate idea on what should be done about him…dark, heavy wool for dark, heavy ideas. Only when grace is given, love shared and mercy shown, will the bonds holding this child be broken and light shine through.
Refugee Child is not a nameless, faceless one of “them” from far away. But for the grace of your birthplace this Child could be yours. Your son. Your daughter. Your grandchild. Your neighbor. Your spouse. Please don’t leave him in the box.
Blessings,
Carrie Settle
Dorchester, NB
Pastor Vernon spoke of this crisis of humanity, of how as Christians its our responsibility to love others, to help, to accept, to pray, to…hook a rug? I couldn’t sit still, Pastor kept talking but the Holy Spirit was moving me towards to crayons and paper left in an area for kids… I was a kid, right? I could see blood, colors, movement but constraint, flashes of ideas and meanings. I worked for several days to get the images to come together and they were revealed through a previous artwork of a friend. I adapted his idea and shaped it to be the “Refugee Child”. It is my great hope, that you will SEE this child, that you will love him/her. For ease of typing, I will call this Child “him”.
Refugee Child is neither male nor female, white nor black, young nor old. The Child has a wrap around his head, made of the sins of others. The wrap covers his eyes so he cannot see a way out, it covers his mouth so he cannot speak to his own defense and it covers his hands, so he cannot work towards his own solution. His knee is skinned…he bleeds just like us. He is trapped in a box of public opinion, each separate piece of wool representing a separate idea on what should be done about him…dark, heavy wool for dark, heavy ideas. Only when grace is given, love shared and mercy shown, will the bonds holding this child be broken and light shine through.
Refugee Child is not a nameless, faceless one of “them” from far away. But for the grace of your birthplace this Child could be yours. Your son. Your daughter. Your grandchild. Your neighbor. Your spouse. Please don’t leave him in the box.
Blessings,
Carrie Settle
Dorchester, NB
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