A Prayer for Persecuted Christians

March 10, 2015

Dear St. Paul’s Family,

The freedom to publically exercise our religious convictions without fear of persecution is a constitutional right that we should never take for granted. This is a country that neither establishes one religion for all of its citizens nor prohibits them from practicing their beliefs. And everything we do as a church, from gathering in worship to performing acts of service, is protected under the very freedoms that we enjoy.

But neither should those freedoms be trivialized. Media personalities over the years have trumpeted ways they claim the American church is being mistreated in this country. Controversies over prayer in public schools, the display of the ten commandments in courthouses, and the recitation of “Merry Christmas” during the holidays might be portrayed as persecution, but in many ways they are merely trumped up expressions of the ongoing culture war between political and ideological factions in this country.

So we have to be careful about how we use the word persecution, since we live in a country that is blessedly insulated from so much of the real persecution that the church has suffered throughout its history. This is true especially in the light of the significant persecution that is happening to Christians around the world today.  Consider these figures from the non-profit organization Open Doors.  Each month:

·      322 Christians around the world are killed for their faith.

·      214 Churches and Christian properties are destroyed.

·      772 Forms of violence are committed against Christians, such as beatings, abductions, rapes, arrests, and forced marriages.

The temptation might be to place blame one country, or one region of the world, or one religion for these incidents. But these are occurring on every major continent, at the hands of more than just the ones we hear about in the news. 

There may be an additional temptation to lash out in anger, with the kind of retributive violence that perceives justice as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This response, of course, would be contrary to the very core of our Christian convictions about non-violence and peaceful resolutions to conflict.  Besides, Christianity itself is far from innocent, for its own cruelty to others throughout history. The Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Salem Witch Trials are all blemishes with which our own conscience must contend. And any hatred we have for Muslim people must be confessed and transformed, lest they feed into the kind of dangerous rhetoric and unbridled anger that contributes to today’s enduring cycles of violence.

The true remedy is humility and prayer. We can remember that on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” But he did not say these words until he named blessedness for the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers.  Being persecuted never permits persecution in response.  Instead, it is a call to prayer, solidarity, courage, humility, and acts of mercy and restoration.

To that end, I was grateful over the weekend to meet and get to know Bishop Gary Mueller, who presides over the Arkansas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.  I was there to speak to their Veritas Conference, a gathering of nearly 1,300 amazing Methodist youth and their leaders.

He told me that a week ago, at a Bishops’ gathering in Nashville, he was having breakfast with my Florida Bishop, Ken Carter, and they openly shared their mutual concern for persecuted Christians around the world. As a response, they have written the following Prayer for Persecuted Christians, which they hope will be shared by Bishops with their Conferences and churches throughout the connection. It is their desire that this prayer might raise awareness and elicit a humble spirit of petition for those who are suffering today. 

We concluded a powerful weekend of worship services with the youth by having Bishop Mueller invite all of us to recite the prayer in unison.  It was stirring to hear over a thousand youth say this prayer together, and it was a reminder of our global solidarity with brothers and sisters around the world.

A PRAYER FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS

God of us all,

You love us so passionately that you sent Your Son to help us experience the fullness of divine love. And while we love you, we are not often asked to risk our lives because of our faith.

This is not true for many of our sisters and brothers in Christ. Our hearts break as we see more of them suffering and dying simply because they are living as disciples of Jesus.

We pray for their safety and sanctuary. We pray that you will give them grace in suffering.  We are humbled by the witness of these martyred for their faith.  We pray for their persecutors, and that acts of violence and persecution will cease.

Help us to grow in our commitment to live as Jesus' disciples. Remind us that we are the One Body of Christ: when one member suffers, all suffer. Stir us to pray unceasingly. And empower us to speak boldly.

We pray all of this in the name of our Savior and Lord, Jesus the Christ.

Amen.

Bishops Mueller and Carter are asking churches to include this prayer during worship on March 22, which we will do here at St. Paul’s.  But they are also hoping that this prayer might be exercised in our own private devotions. So I am asking you to consider using it in your own prayer life over these weeks of Lent.  Together, let us pray for the persecuted. And let us pray for our own response, that we might be meek, merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers.

Grace and Peace,

Magrey 

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega

St. Paul's United Methodist Church

531 W. Main St.

Cherokee, IA  51012

Ph:  712-225-3955

Email:  mdevega@sp-umc.org

NEW PASTOR FOR ST. PAUL’S UMC ANNOUNCED

The following is a statement from our District Superintendent Tom Carver, read last Sunday by our Staff-Parish Chairperson John Chalstrom: 

As the chairperson of our Staff Parish Relations Committee I have a special announcement to make.

I am very pleased to announce that Bishop Julius Calvin Trimble and his cabinet have appointed Pastor Cris Decious to become the pastor of St Pauls United Methodist Church beginning in late June of this year.

Pastor Cris is currently serving as the pastor of the Minburn, Redfield and  Dexter United Methodist Churches in central Iowa.   He and his wife, Jennifer are the parents of Elijah, Noah and Grace. 

In the coming days we will want to enjoy the time we will have with Pastor Magrey, Grace and Maddy and then give them a good send off.

We can begin now to pray for Pastor Cris and his family as they prepare to come and be part of our church family.  In addition to praying for our congregation and especially our Staff Parish Relations Committee, we should also remember the Minburn, Redfield and  Dexter congregations as we all prepare for this transition.

The Scriptures promise us that God goes with us through the changing seasons of our lives.  May we claim that promise in the days ahead as we anticipate God's future.