Pray...

Pray for the Persecuted Church

Pray for the Church that is at ease.

Today I walked to St. Andrew’s, an Episcopal church in town that sits on the banks of the Nile River. Behind the sanctuary there’s a mass grave.

In 2014, the town got word that rebels were coming. The able-bodied citizens escaped on foot. But patients at the hospital (where I’ve been working this week) were too ill to travel, so they lay defenseless in their beds.

Elderly women and young children who weren’t strong enough to flee took refuge in St. Andrews’ sanctuary, where several clergy had stayed behind to care for them.

A general who’d been stationed here in Bor defected to the rebel army, and he gave them the location of the hospital and church, where people were most likely to be. Rebels raided the hospital and killed patients in their beds. Then they raided the church, raped the women — and killed them, the children, and the clergy who’d stayed behind.

The mass grave behind St. Andrews holds the bodies of the innocents who lost their lives in the attack.

This morning as I stood at the fence that guards the grave, remembering the courage of those who lost their lives, the congregation inside the sanctuary began singing the most enthusiastic rendition of “Joy To The World” I have ever heard.

From the depths of their souls, they sang of joy, peace, and the wonders of God’s love — mere feet from where their friends, neighbors and family members are buried. I stood there weeping.

People in the western world often say that places like South Sudan “need us” because of the “resources” we have.

And in some ways, it’s true that we have resources like finances and education and medicine we can share. After all, that’s one of the reasons I’m here — to teach and practice medicine where it’s needed.

But what we often miss are the ways in which WE need places like South Sudan. Places rich with resources like compassion, forgiveness, community, hospitality and joy.

So, on this third Sunday of Advent....
Joy to the world.
Peace to South Sudan.
And open hearts to us, who are in desperate need of the gifts our brothers and sisters offer us here.