"WE ARE THE CHURCH... WE DO NOT RUN FROM WAR."

"Whisper His Name," Meghan Williams, Dyed4YouArt

 

The title of this blog is "borrowed" from the subject line of an e-mail from CBN NEWS, May 14, '22. 

As you would expect, this is dealing with the invasion of Ukraine. The CBN News' story is on Grace Church in Kiev, 6 miles from the Russian tanks, where they have prayer services every four hours and gather food and necessities for those in need. They believe the prayers will save both Ukraine and Russia.

Is this unusual behavior for the church of Jesus Christ? No. I remember during the time that Assad was allegedly attacking people in his own country, Christians were staying in Syria so they could minister to those who are in need.

Christians need to remember they're in the Spiritual War Zone 24/7. After all, do you expect Satan to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy, regardless what day you call the Sabbath? Nope. We're on war footing, as President George W. Bush said we needed to be on after 9/11.

But what about so called Culture Wars? The problem is we see the enemy as physical, not spiritual. I remember Cal Thomas, in his book Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America? mentioning that during his time with the Moral Majority, they had a flier asking "Who's the greatest enemy of American society?" The Moral Majority's answer was Norman Lear. Thomas wanted to change the "Who" into "What" and answer the question "Divorce." He was onto something.

Remember above where the Ukranian church was praying for Russia? Shouldn't we pray for the people that seem to oppose us, that God would grant them repentance and that they may come to their senses (2 Tim. 2:25-26)? On the way to work, I drive by a pair of Gentlemen's clubs, one of which advertises coming events. I use that opportunity for God to save the people working there and that those businesses fail because those involved repent.

ASH WEDNESDAY, LENT, UKRAINE, AND PERSECUTED HYMN WRITERS

Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Church, Indianapolis, IN

On the 63 Ash Wednesdays I've lived through, I've only been to one (as far as I know). Part of that might be my work schedule; a bigger part could be that I've never regularly attended a church that celebrates Ash Wednesday or Lent. When Becky served as a chaplain at Eskenazi Hospital here in Indianapolis, Becky and I went to a lunch time service at the chapel there, officiated by her supervisor, Father Robert Lyons.

There have been a couple of times I did give up something for Lent, though I'm not sure how kosher my observance was. Once, I gave up creamer in my coffee, and once I gave up condiments/sauces on my sandwiches/entrees (may have been same year). Now, I did continue to use sweetener in my coffee, and I excluded horseradish from the abstinence list. But adding cream to my java or putting BBQ sauce or mustard or some oriental sauce were more luxuries.

But a fair question is what does giving up for Lent accomplish? One of those times, I linked it with praying for someone's salvation for those 40 days. But does merely doing without draw you closer to God? The same with fasting. I remember a blog titled "Fasting or Hunger Strike?" Are we making sacrifices to earn favor from God? Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

I've been taught the primary reason to fast is so you have the time you'd normally be chowing down to pray, and sometimes a fast is for a particular need. This leads me to Ukraine. We definitely need to be praying for that country. The ERLC has an article title "4 Reasons Why Christians Should Care About What's Happening In Ukraine." You can click here to see the whole list in detail, but allow me to give two items that have my attention:

1. Russia's invasion could cause a refugee crisis in Central Europe, and
2. The Ukrainian Church, which faces possible persecution.
   

This is why I pictured Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Church (part of the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese). Christ is the joy of all who sorrow, and those in Ukraine deserve that joy.

Allow me to conclude with a tie-in with my two previous posts, reviewing biographies of Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley. Both were preachers and both were hymn writers, in both cases writing the words but neither writing original music. Both, however, lived under persecution.

Isaac Watts' father was in jail when he was born. Why? Because the senior Watts was a deacon of a dissenting church. Several years later, while the younger Watts was still a child, his father was removed from his family for two years because of the same issue. Laws changed as the younger Watts grew up, but because he wouldn't join the Church of England, he wasn't eligible to run for office, and he could not attend the elite schools like Oxford and Cambridge. (The irony is later on, these schools and also Yale used the book on Logic Watts wrote.)

Technically, the Methodist movement was part of the Church of England. However, this did not spare Charles Wesley from persecution due to issues including open air preaching. Rioters tried to break in, Charles and others were beaten, and if the local law enforcement did more than watch, they usually assisted the rioters.

I know. Today's blog rambled a bit, didn't it? But let me state that we in the U.S. should not expect to avoid the persecution our brothers and sisters are experiencing around the world. We should also take Hebrews 13:3 to heart: "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them - those who are mistreated - since you yourselves are in the body also." (NKJV). 

Allow me to add Psalm 69:33 (again, NKJV): "For the LORD hears the poor, And does not despise His prisoners."

What are your thoughts on what I covered? How are you reacting to the Ukraine crisis? Are you observing Lent, and how?