Tuesday is not normally my day to update the blog, but I wanted to urge all of us to pray fervently for the four members of the Christian Peacemaking Team who are being held by the "Swords of Truth Brigade" in Iraq. The captors have vowed to execute the men on Thursday unless all prisoners in Iraq and coalition custody are released.
One of the four men, Tom Fox, is a friend of a member of our congregation. There are prayer vigils being planned in this area. But may we also commit to pray, as an online community?
The irony is that it was a Christian Peacemaker Team that helped bring to light the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. And while we pray for peace, and for these four men and for their captors, a member of Tom's church reminds us that there are literally thousands of people who have been kidnapped in Iraq, and many more who wait and worry about their missing loved ones--they just don't make the news.
Even as I plead with God for a miracle, I give thanks for the witness of these men. "It seems easier somehow to confront anger within my heart than it is to confront fear," Tom Fox wrote on his blog in October 2004, during the spate of kidnappings of aid workers. "But if Jesus and Gandhi are right then I am not to give in to either. I am to stand firm against the kidnapper as I am to stand firm against the soldier. Does that mean I walk into a raging battle to confront the soldiers? Does that mean I walk the streets of Baghdad with a sign saying 'American for the Taking'? No to both counts. But if Jesus and Gandhi are right, then I am asked to risk my life and if I lose it to be as forgiving as they were when murdered by the forces of Satan. I struggle to stand firm but I'm willing to keep working at it."
The name of Fox's blog, incidentally, is Waiting in the Light.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Although it would have been untoward of me to add this to the original post, we ought also to pray for Rush Limbaugh, who said of this situation, "Well, here's why I like it. I like any time a bunch of leftist feel-good hand-wringers are shown reality" (emphasis added). Mainly we should pray that he never passes me on the street, or if he does, that I remember the pacifist Christian witness of Tom Fox.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if he would have had the gall to say that in the shadow of the cross of Christ... which is essentially where he stands. As do we all in these dark days.
RM thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteLord in your mercy hear our prayers.
We thank you that it is an honour to die for our faith, that Tom and his co-workers join a long line of those who are ready to follow You anywhere inspite of the risk to their own lives. Yet Lord we ask that it would not come to that. We ask that You would intervene, and Your spirit of forgiveness, mercy and reconcilliation would rest upon Iraq, and also the people of the West.
I ask that this situation will not add fuel to the fire, there would not be an increase in hate and lack of willingness to understand.
Oh Father, words fail as I think of the anguish of those who love these peacemakers. Bless them according to Your promises.
I also ask for your hand in the lives of those whose familes are still held captive and who are somehow forgotten. I thank you that you have not forgotten them and I ask that you be with them in a powerful way, that You push back dispair and lonliness and give them the Joy of salvation in You.
Help us deal with our reaction to Rush Limbaugh's statement. Lord Your mercy extends to him too. Help us bring him before You that he too could taste of Your goodness.
Amen
Elizabeth Fox, Tom's daughter, was on CNN last night, witnessing to the kind of person he is and speaking of his desire that violence of any kind not be employed to rescue him. What a courageous person he is, truly one of the saints of God (in my Protestant understanding).
ReplyDeleteI will be praying for them as well.
Lord, hear our prayer.
ReplyDeleteset the captives free...
ReplyDeleteGod of mercy, protect Tom Fox and the other captives. Give them a peace that passes all understanding. Help them to feel the power of the prayers that are being offered all over the world for their safety and comfort.
ReplyDeleteWe pray for a miracle, Lord. We pray that the captors will turn away from violence as a means of resolving the conflict. We pray for the safe return of Tom Fox and those who are with him. We pray also for others, unnamed here, unknown to us, who are being held captive. May they all feel the presence of Jesus Christ during these dark days.
Spirit, wrap the captives' family and friends in your comforting embrace. Help them to feel supported by the prayers of so many who fervently hope for their loved ones' return.
Amen
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
ReplyDeleteLord, save them. Lord, save us all.
ReplyDeleteAmen
beautiful prayer there from anon. I prayed it too :)
ReplyDeleteLord in your mercy hear our prayers