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If you're anything like me, (writes Pete Greig, below right) you're probably feeling bewildered and  helpless about events in the Middle-East, right now. The temptation to delegate responsibility to 'grown-ups' (whoever they may be) is strong. We hardly know what to think, let alone how to respond to the sight of 'The Holy Land' bombing itself to bits in some crazy, never-ending turf-war. Lebanon, Hezbollah, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan and this week a foiled attempt in London to bomb America with Boeing 747's... Life is pretty scary and its easy to feel utterly helpless. How then should we pray?
It's almost unthinkable but, after a month, the shocking front-page pictures of bombs, people crying and of Beirut silhouetted against explosions... these images are becoming | |
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boring. OK, confession time... Today I glanced at the same-old headline before clicking straight through to an article about Sophia Loren bathing in olive oil. At the age of 71 she has been voted the world's most naturally beautiful woman. Isn't that remarkable?
Guiltily I returned to the homepage to find out about the crisis in the Middle East... |
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For such a time as this?
I don't want to allow myself to settle for such indifference. I believe we're commanded to the front-lines, far from Sophia Loren's olive oil beauty tips. I have a single verse echoing around my head right now: At a time of grave national crisis Mordecai urged Esther to use her privileged position to petition the king, saying: "Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
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"Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
(Esther 4:14) |
In response, Esther organises a three-day fast, and then she goes to see the king - literally to 'intercede' with him. I believe categorically that we - the 24-7 community - have been raised up by God 'for such a time as this'. It's time to fast, to pray and to engage because we are naive and deluded enough to believe that our prayers really can make a tangible difference in the Middle-East crisis and that, if we do not pray, God's will may be partially thwarted. It's sobering. |
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24-7 Prayer Rooms are multiplying around the world (including in the Middle-East) but this is not merely to make churches a bit more interesting, nor to help us indulge our religious hobby. We are praying in order to rewrite the history books of our time. God himself has invited us to partner with him in exercising governmental authority in the world. | |
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Full marks, then, to the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu (left) who cancelled his summer holiday this week in order to camp out in his own cathedral - keeping a prayer vigil for peace. The leader of England's Anglican church evidently understands both the urgency of the times and the power of his calling to engage by praying for peace.
The situation is spiritual
It is blatant to many of us (though few politicians will ever dare voice this particular truth) that the theatre of war is first and foremost a spiritual reality which requires a spiritual solution. You cannot bomb for peace. We all know that negotiation is better (and lets pray for Kofi Annan, below left, and the UN at this time), but even negotiation misses the root cause of contention. Here we have a series of conflicts that are deeply and ultimately spiritual, secondly ideological and thirdly territorial. You can bomb for territory. You can negotiate between ideologies. But the primary spiritual reality can only be engaged on earth as it is in heaven. This is why we intercede in prayer. |
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Two of the men arrested last week under suspicion of being suicide bombers had converted from Christianity to Islam in recent months, including Don Stewart-White from High Wycombe (left), who had changed his name to Abdul Waheed just six months ago. This is a wake up call! | |
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Christians can never be spectators upon world affairs... |
Suicide bombers in London consider themselves Muslim more than British. Christians, for that matter, consider ourselves citizens of heaven more than citizens of America, Scotland, Australia or wherever we happen to live. Add the internicene battles between Sunni (Al Q'aeda) and Suffi (Hezbollah) Islam which threaten to sink Iraq into civil war, Zionism in Israel and fundamentalism in America and we quickly see that geopolitical boundaries are far less important than religious ones. |
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Of course, we need to pray into the politics of the situations, aware that we have been raised up and given a place of influence in the King's royal household for such a time as this. Christians can never be spectators upon world affairs and there are physical realities with which we simply must engage. But we must also pray proactively into the spiritual conflict in the name of the Prince of Peace.
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Karl Barth, (left) perhaps the greatest theologian of the last century who refused to swear allegiance to Adolf Hitler, sums up our responsibility and authority in prayer beautifully:
"In Christ we are set at God's side and lifted up to Him and therefore to the place where decisions are made in the affairs of his government. And this is what takes place in... Christian prayer... We find ourselves at the very seat of government, at the very heart of the mystery and purpose of all occurrence."
(Church Dogmatics lll, p.287) |
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Imagine... a limousine pulls up outside your house today and a message comes that you are required by your government leaders to share your thoughts and perspectives at the very highest levels of influence. According to Barth, it is an invitation already extended to you by the President of all presidents, The Lord of Lords. Forgive me Lord, that I sometimes find Sophia Loren more compelling.
Back to the future
Politically the future is bleak & scary. Iraq will almost certainly sink into civil war. Iran | |
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As Christians, however, we anticipate more than a stalemate, we look forward to PEACE! |
will continue its nuclear programme. Hezbollah has not been disarmed. A new generation of terrorists has been recruited this month in Beirut. Islam is advancing and the fundamentalists will continue to take the more bloodthirsty parts of the Koran literally. As a result, terrorism will not go away; it cannot be targeted and defeated like Hitler's Nazism or Mussolini's fascism. In the Western body cancerous cells will continue to multiply. Jittery fears on trains, planes and the New York subway are here to stay. |
But as Christians, however, we anticipate more than a stale-mate, we look forward to PEACE! The key, we know, is the presence of Jesus, that life-changing encounter with the one who commanded that we love our enemies and who empowers us to forgive. So let us pray for our leaders, let us support diplomacy but let us also intercede, like Esther, for the followers of Jesus living in these war zones. It's more important than ever before that God's people arise to pray with authority and perseverance, that we preach the gospel of Jesus boldly, that we determine to plant churches, to send missionaries, to care for the poor. The transformation of society and the evangelization of the nations walk forward hand in hand, the latter leading the former. And the heartbeat of both is prayer.
