A boy strolls into his house with a chair under each arm and a sofa balanced on his head.
"Where did you get that from?! asks his dad.
"Off an old man in the park" replies the boy.
"Never EVER do that again" shouts the father. "What have I told you about taking suites from strangers?"
On Tuesday of this week, a unique event took place in Walsall. A meeting was arranged at one of the local mosques for Christians and Muslims to come together and learn from one another what 'faith' means to these two religions. The meeting was extremely well attended, with Christians from a number of different churches present, as well as members of the Aisha Mosque. The main part of the evening was a talk given by Vic Gledhill from the Walsall Community Church on faith from a Christian perspective, and then a talk from Imam from the Aisha mosque speaking about faith from a Muslim perspective. It was an extremely interesting evening, and our Muslim hosts made us feel very welcome.
There were a number of things that struck me about this event. First of all how important meetings like this are. There is a lot of fear and mistrust about Islam within British society, and so often this is born out of misunderstanding and ignorance, and building bridges so we can understand one another better is extremely important. This works both ways, because there were several things said by Muslim speakers in that meeting, which showed that they misunderstand some aspects of the Christian faith, just as I imagine we misunderstand parts of the Muslim religion.
One of the other things that struck me about the meeting, is that although there are big differences of opinion between Muslims and Christians on the person of Jesus and Muhamed, there is a lot of common ground between us, in terms of the importance our faith to our everyday lives, and there is mutual concern about the importance of family life, and how we encourage and support this. It was also interesting to hear one Muslim RE teacher, express his concern about how young people today (of all ethnic backgrounds) fail to see the relevance of God to their lives, and how we are to reach these young people - this is an extremely important issue for Christians as well.
The warmth of the hospitality, and the conversations we had afterwards as we looked around the Mosque gave me real hope for the future, and shows why it is so important to build bridges between Christians and Muslims.
The next event takes place as Caldmore Evangelical Church in Walsall at 7.30pm on Tuesday January 16th.
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) The impact of these words spoken by Jesus, are possibly a bit lost on us today. But when Jesus spoke these words, the significance of these words would have been quite clear. In Jesus’ day, it was a common sight to see condemned men carrying their crosses through the streets to the place of execution. Jesus was saying, to follow him can be costly.
Living in twenty first century Britain, we face little or no opposition as Christians. We are free to practice our faith without fear or intimidation. But for many Christians the reality is very different. In the twentieth century more Christians died for their faith, than in the previous 19 centuries combined, and for millions of Christians around the world, persecution is part of the daily reality of life. And by persecution I mean a situation where people are repetitively, persistently and systematically inflicted with grave or serious suffering or harm and deprived of their basic human rights because of their faith.
In 1 Corinthians 12:26 Paul uses the analogy of the body to describe the church, and he says that “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.” And our Gospel reading reminds us that we have a duty to support our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and that failure to do so will result in judgement.
In many countries where Christians are a minority group, they find themselves vulnerable to abuse and injustice of many kinds. They are often discriminated against, with no hope of redress, to violence with no hope of protection.
Pastor Daniel
Take for example Pastor Daniel. He and his wife run a home for orphans in India. Along with their own four children, they care for 20 Dalit ("untouchable") children.
A converted Hindu, he has experienced severe persecution from fundamentalist groups opposed to his Christian activities.
Since 1995, he has been severely beaten and left for dead, and his house stoned by violent mobs who once besieged his home for 15 days.
To date, the police have failed to arrest those responsible and in fact arrested Pastor Daniel once, on trumped-up charges.
Pastor Daniel and his wife have been ordered to leave the region by Hindu extremists, or be killed.
Rahmet from Ethiopia
Next there is Rahmet from Ethiopia. She became a Christian at the age of 15, but when her Muslim family found out of her new faith they were enraged, and have disowned her, as have many of her friends. Rahmet now lives with a Christian family.
Yousif Matt from Iraq
Yousif Matty has led many Muslims to Christ. The church that he founded in 1992 has over a 1000 members, most of whom come from a Muslim background. Yousif has received hundreds of death threats, and his Christian bookshops have been attacked.
Since the invasion of Iraq three years ago, the situation for Christians has worsened. Earlier this year Christians in Iraq were by Islamic extremists that that they must either leave, convert to Islam or be killed. The aim of these extremists is to cleanse Iraq of every last Christian, and to a certain extent they are succeeding as many Christians have fled to neighbouring countries.
Sarah from Uzbekistan
Sarah was the first person in her hometown to become a Christian. She shared her faith with friends and neighbours, and a church of 300 was soon established.
However, after spates of heavy persecution, many of the new converts were too frightened to attend church. Sarah herself was kidnapped by a Muslim and forced into marriage. She is forbidden to visit her Christian friends, and on many occasions she has been pelted with stones when walking through the streets.
SHOW SLIDE These are the stories of just four people, but it is estimated that up to 200 million Christians in 60 countries world wide are facing similar persecution and discrimination on the grounds of their religious beliefs.
Psalm 31
Our first reading this morning was composed by King David. In his own life David had to face many trials, the times in which he lived were fraught with uncertainty and violence. In the psalm he talks about being pursued by his enemies. The experiences that David writes about in this psalm, are similar to the experiences many Christians around the world face. Being pursued by their enemies, living in times of trial and uncertainty. For example, we have seen the rise of a very militant form of Islamic extremism. In Nigeria, where there is a large Muslim population 270 churches were burnt to the ground last year, and in one horrific attack 20 Nigerian Christian children were burnt to death when the bus they were travelling in was attacked. Other Christians are having to face discrimination of an institutional, legal and employment nature, or are finding their rights to practice their religion suppressed.
In the psalm David describes how his experiences, left him distressed and anxious. He describes how he was scorned by his neighbours, and forgotten by his friends, who treated him as though he were dead. And the burden for Christians living with the threat of persecution is similarly great.
But throughout the trials David had to face, his trust remained in the Lord. David was conscious of the fact that God was ultimately the one in control. He said, “I trust in you, O Lord, I saw, ‘You are my God’.
David’s confidence was based on his understanding that God is a righteous God, and that he is concerned with justice. He trusted in God’s unending goodness, whose abiding presence offers support and encouragement even when we are faced by great hardships. Paul who similarly faced similar hardships, writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” He was able to say this, because his confidence was based not in men, but in God whose faithfulness endures for ever, and he knew that his future and his destiny lay in God’s hands.
In Exodus 3:7 we read that God hears the cries of his people, and is concerned with their suffering. Which is why, David is able to end the psalm with these words, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.” (Psalm 31:29)
What I find so striking about hearing stories of Christians under persecution, is the strength of their faith, and their confidence in God’s goodness and justice. It is also striking that where the church is seeing some of it’s greatest growth, is in those places where Christians are facing the most opposition. Where does the confidence and joy of these Christians come from? It is based on the knowledge that they are suffering for Christ. In the 1st letter of Peter, he writes, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)
What is the main message that Christians who are suffering take from Psalm 31. I believe it is David’s message urging us all to be strong and to take heart, to wait expectantly for the Lord to bring justice for those who have put their trust in him. These are not glib words, but come from one who himself experienced extreme suffering, yet clung faithfully to the Lord and eventually saw him work.
So what should our response be to the suffering of other Christians?
Four main responses:
A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".
The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl replied, "Then you ask him".
A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work.
As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.
The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."
The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."
A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds.
After explaining the commandment to "honour" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"
Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."
One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head.
She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?"
Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."
The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"
The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.
"Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, he's a doctor.'"
A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, she's dead."
A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said,
"Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in
the face."
"Yes," the class said.
"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?"
A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."
The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:
"Take only ONE. God is watching."
Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."
