Murray McCheyne and Valentyna.
‘There’s so much more to be done!’ says Murray McCheyne, just back from a visit to Ukraine.
The local solicitor and his son Lewis were accompanying Simeon Ewing of the Inverness-based charity Children’s Ministry Ukraine which supports Ukrainians both in Scotland and in their homeland.
A desire to express his faith in practical ways led to Murray visiting the beleaguered country. The team weren’t simply jetting in, creating a few feel-good photo opportunities and then returning home; they were fully engaged with the people they met, committed to supporting them both in the short and longer terms.
‘We were told several times how much it meant to the Ukranians that we had made the effort to travel there,’ Murray told me. ‘We assured them that they’re not forgotten, that we love them, that Jesus loves them, and that we stand with them in word and deed’.
He describes the practical work he undertook. Digging a potato patch, painting a wall, working on constructing a house for Valentyna, her daughter and granddaughter, whose village was devastated in the failed Russian advance on Kyiv in 2022.
Foundations of Valentyna’s new house in Ukraine.
For Ukrainians, says Murray, ‘Life does go on, but it’s not as before.’ He worships in a Kyiv church, visits well-stocked supermarkets, and strolls round tourist sites ‘all the time conscious that the air-raid siren could go off at any moment.’
There is grief,and loss and sheer weariness; conscription; war memorials in every community; the absence of men; the trauma of returning soldiers.
For some of the Christians Murray meets, holding on to faith in such circumstances is difficult. There are questions – why does God allow such suffering? Valentyna reads the book of Job in the Bible often, finding inspiration in this story of a man afflicted, who never, never gives up hope.
Murray and Simeon return to Scotland, their hearts filled with these stories of hope and despair, fear and courage. They return to awaken empathy and action on the part of Scottish people.
It’s encouraging to learn how many organisations are getting behind the Ukrainian people. In one week, Murray saw a plant sponsored by Operation Mobilisation, recycling plastic into electricity, and met a group of Dutch volunteers from Hope for Ukraine on their 26th trip since 2022.
One-off trips are valuable; sustained ongoing support is priceless. Murray and Simeon are planning future visits with larger teams. For, convinced that darkness will never, never have the final word, Christians are people of resurrection, agents of healing, reconstruction and flourishing.
Says Murray: ‘I can’t stop a war – although I continue to pray that it will cease soon in a just and fair way – but I can do a little to help.’
And: ‘There’s so much more to be done.’
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