PostScript: Exodus and the persecuted church
We remember the millions of Christians – one body with us in Christ – who face religious persecution (Ephesians 4.1-16).
Introduction
Whether we are free to worship, as in the West, or face persecution because of our faith, as in many countries, we are all part of one body in Christ, sustained by the bread of life that comes from heaven.
Context
Exodus: the mass departure of people from a land. From the Israelites fleeing slavery in Egypt thousands of years ago, to the 45.2 million people ‘forcibly displaced’ from their homes by conflict, disaster or persecution today (UNHCR figures), and the many more voluntary migrants who choose to journey in pursuit of a better future elsewhere, it’s a story that repeats, over and over. In this past week:
- 2,000 migrants attempted to enter the Channel Tunnel overnight on Monday 27th at Calais, ‘the biggest incursion effort in the past month and a half’, in an attempt to reach the UK.
- Christians now face harassment by governments or other social groups in 102 countries worldwide, the highest number of ‘danger’ zones for any faith group, according to the Pew Research Center. The Guardian’s report on this global rise in religious persecution against Christians includes examples from Egypt, Pakistan, China and the Holy Land. In its list of the ‘Ten worst places’ to be a Christian, it notes that around 700,000 Christians have fled Syria – number four on the list – since 2011. Read also some of the personal stories.
- ‘A migrant boy’s escape from hell’ was told in the London Evening Standard on Monday 27th. Solomon (not his real name) is one of the 5,000 unaccompanied children to have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year. The 15-year-old Christian fled Nigeria after his family was killed in front of him, when his father refused to convert to Islam. He fled alone to Niger, then across the Sahara and on to Libya, where he was tortured by unknown men for carrying a Bible. They sold him into a slave-labour camp, from which he eventually fled, with others, towards the coast. After two days travelling across the Mediterranean without food and water he was finally rescued from an overcrowded boat near Lampedusa and taken to the Messina reception centre for child migrants.
Reflection
Solomon told the reporter this of his escape from the slave camp: ‘Many of us fled to the sea. I saw a boat going to Italy, I didn’t have an idea what Italy was. I prayed to my God because I believe in God.’ He was lifted up onto the boat by a stranger and began his dangerous journey across the Mediterranean: ‘It was just between me and God then.’
Solomon turned to God in prayer to sustain him, to be his ‘bread of life’, through desperate hardships of a kind that few of us will ever have to face. His faith is striking and challenging. Could we continue to say ‘I believe in God’ after such hardship? And are we willing to put our trust in God so deeply in the midst of whatever difficulties we might face?
Our need for rescue may not be so clear and immediate as that of Solomon and his fellow boat-refugees, or that of the millions of Christians around the world facing violent persecution for their faith, but we do all need God’s saving gift to us, Jesus, the ‘bread of God… which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’. Let us pray with the crowd at Capernaum, ‘give us this bread always’ (John 6.33-34).
When writing the letter to the Ephesians, Paul himself was being held captive because of his faith, a ‘prisoner in the Lord’ (Ephesians 4.1). From prison he writes of how we all have a place in ‘the body of Christ’ and are ‘knitted together’ in our faith (Ephesians 4.12,16). So, hard as it is to read stories such as that of Solomon and his father, we should not allow them to fade into abstraction. The lives of those in the persecuted church worldwide are knitted together with those of us who enjoy the gift of religious freedom. How can we use our freedom to raise them up, ‘building up the body of Christ’?
Just after today’s passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus continues on to say: ‘anyone who comes to me I will never drive away’ (John 6.37). We are not God and cannot do everything for all those who are in need of refuge today – but we can do something for some of them. The Standard’s reporter describes how the people of Messina have tried to support the refugee children in their midst, hanging a heart-shaped banner reading ‘welcome’ opposite the children’s home. An action prompted, the reporter speculates, by the fact that in that town the plight of refugees is not an abstract concept but has ‘a human face, like that of Solomon’. Whose face do we see looking to us for help and welcome today? That’s where we can make a start in following Jesus’ example.
Prayer
These prayers could be used during a time of intercession.
You could use the following response after each intercession:
Jesus said, ‘Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.’
Lord, raise them up.
For other prayers of petition, you could use the following response:
Jesus is the bread of life.
Give us this bread always.
For child migrants
Loving God, we pray that you will be a father to all the fatherless children like Solomon at the Centro Ahmed child migrant centre in Messina, Sicily and in other centres like it. Provide for them what they need as you did for the Israelites when they too fled suffering and persecution. Ease their nightmares and help them to rest in you. May those, like Solomon, who know you, continue in their faith and turn to you for peace and strength, as you keep your promise never to turn away from those who seek you. And may those who don’t yet know you be shown glimpses of a new life, not just in a new country, but eternally in you. Amen.
For persecuted Christians, either:
Briefly introduce the stories of the various Christians featured in The Guardian article and pray for them in turn, together with others in their countries. You could use the photographs featured in the Guardian report to help you put a human face to each individual’s story.
Or alternatively:
Pray for some of the countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian (25 are listed online by The Guardian). Focus on any countries where your church has family or missionary links.
You could begin by saying:
‘Lord, we are knitted together in the body of Christ with our fellow Christians around the world, and so, thankful for the freedom we have to worship you, we pray now for those who face persecution because they follow you. We pray for those in Egypt, where…’
Questions
- What ‘bread’ do you need to sustain you in your life and faith?
- The Israelites didn’t recognise God’s provision for them at first, asking about the manna: ‘What is it?’ Moses had to explain it was bread from God. Can you think of times when you’ve taken time to recognise God’s provision for you?
- Is it easier to trust in God when we have no resources of our own? Or when times are good? Perhaps both circumstances challenge us in different ways?
- How should we respond to the plight of refugees and migrants? Individually and as a nation?
Action
The apostle Paul received and wrote letters of faith while he was in prison. Through the organisation Open Doors you can write letters of support to Christians facing persecution today. Letters cannot be sent to those in some of the worst-affected countries, such as North Korea, as the risk involved is too great, but there are other places where messages of support can still be received.
If you need some light relief, here’s another way to explore the concept of the ‘bread of life’. The hugely popular BBC television series The Great British Bake Off begins again next week, on Wednesday 5th August. Could you get one or two people to film themselves making bread at home that they then bring in to the service? It could then be either broken up and shared round the congregation, or judged up front on stage by your own appointed ‘experts’, as a light-hearted introduction to the readings today. Alternatively, you could ask for volunteers to join in with a mini bread-bake-off during the week, but without the competition – just baking in order to bring in their bread to the Communion table next week.
Young People
Solomon is only 15 years old. How do the young people in your group feel when hearing his story?
The organisation Open Doors has been supporting persecuted Christians for 60 years. It has a youth-focused website. The home page includes a video, ‘Say Yes!’, in which one group of young people share some of the things they’ve learned about God through learning about the persecuted church. You could watch this together and discuss it with your group.
Have any of the young people in your group experienced problems because of their faith? If your group are close and trusting you could discuss this together and pray for each other. Faith-related bullying is not uncommon and can be extremely distressing. Be aware that it could be a sensitive topic for some in your group; if any of the young people seem to need particular support, organisations like Childline, Kidscape and Bullying UK may be able to provide help.
Rebecca Froley was the launch web editor of ROOTS and is currently working as an interim digital manager in the business publishing industry.
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