Below is an updated Rambling I wrote way back in 2013, as I reflected on a suicide bombing in Pakistan. I was not up to speed on the details of this weekend’s attack Sunday morning with the hectic schedule at Christ Church for Easter Sunday. The Easter attacks in Sri Lanka were equally as shocking and disturbing as I began to learn about them. I hope that you will join me in praying for the victims and their families, for those whose hearts are filled with hatred, and for all those who are persecuted and martyred for their faith. Even in the face of horror and death (and perhaps because of) we raise our Easter Alleluias! Along with our resurrection faith, we pray for peace and God’s mercy. Tom+
“Are you willing to be drug out into the forest and shot for your faith in Jesus Christ?” Get your attention? Yeah, it got mine too. This was a question asked of the congregation assembled in our chapel one day when I was in seminary at Sewanee. We had occasional “scholars in residence” who would attend classes and participate liturgically in the life of the community. We bright-eyed, eager seminarians were not used to thinking about such things, so yes, the question got our attention. You could see people who tend to tune out during sermons (yes, clergy do it too) sit up straight in their seats to find out what in the world was going on.
I do not remember the name of the priest any more or all the specifics of his sermon that day, but I have never forgotten the question he asked us. It was indeed a question I had never asked myself, because I have not had to. A bit over the top, perhaps, but able to get a point across, too. Do we, who are blessed to live in this country at this point in history, really understand the cost of discipleship? Compared to some in other parts of the world and in other times in history, we have got it REALLY easy.
This past Sunday, as some of you know, two suicide bombers attacked Christians in Peshawar, Pakistan as they left church. [This time it was a series of attacks in Sri Lanka that have killed more than 350 and injured more than 500 persons.] Not that it makes it any more disheartening or disgusting, but the church was historic All Saints Anglican Church, a church that has from its beginnings in the 19thcentury been a symbol of interfaith efforts in a majority-Muslim country. More than 85 people were killed and over a hundred more were injured just minutes after they finished offering some of the same prayers that we did on Sunday. Try to imagine what it is like to worry about being attacked when you come to church? That is something that is largely foreign to us.
Persecution is still a reality in some parts of the world, most notably in some places in the Middle East and Asia, although there are other places where Christians profess their faith at great risk. That makes for a different kind of faith. In my estimation, it’s a closer version of what the early church experienced in the years after Jesus’ resurrection, when Christianity was a persecuted minority religion. I think most of us really don’t know what that is like, and I’m happy that is the case. One thing that comes with that reality, though, is that our faith and our profession of it is less costly than for some of our brothers and sisters around the world. This does not mean that our faith is invalid or worthless; it simply means that it is easier to take for granted.
That was the point of that priest’s question to us 10 years ago. Don’t take your faith for granted. Don’t take your ability to worship, or even to serve others as a follower of Christ for granted. If our ability to worship were jeopardized, would we make more of an effort to make it count and to do it more often? If it was so valuable that it was dangerous, how would it change the way we do things? These are all interesting questions for us “easy Christians” to ponder from time to time. And while we do that, we also need to pray for our Christian family around the world – especially those who live and move and have their being in the midst of persecution and in fear. We should remember the people of All Saints and Peshawar, asking God to assuage their grief and their fear. I know that they have already begun to go back to church again this week, and they will need our prayers.
Tom+
Give strength and courage, O God, by your Holy Spirit to all who bear reproach or suffer for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn the hearts of their oppressors and persecutors; and grant that their testimony may avail for the conversion of many. Keep them steadfast in hope and serene in your peace. Whether in life or in death, number them among your confessors and martyrs who loved not their lives unto death, for the same of him who died for us all, that we might have everlasting life in glory, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. - Massey Shepherd