I have noticed a significant increase in the reports of persecution of Christians and I am deeply troubled. We must pray for our Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus. This last Sunday morning, a child in the Divine Service was crying. It dawned on me that this would serve as a good reminder in parishes. Here is the plan: Without disrupting the service, as the parents comfort and tend to the needs of the child, the congregation members can silently implore our Lord Jesus to comfort His persecuted Church. People are already distracted by the crying / fussing, so this is a good method to refocus mental attention back to the service. The Pastor and Liturgist need not change what they are doing, simply proceed as usual. Let the voice of that little one who is so precious to our Lord Jesus be the proxy voice in our parish for the imprisoned, persecuted, and suffering Christians. Maybe the Pastor could announce this to the congregation and make note of it in the bulletins. For information and resources on the issue of modern day persecution of Christians, click these links below; and remember to pray daily for our Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Blessings+
Father Daniel
The Voice of the Martyrshttp://www.persecution.com/
Focus on Persecution http://www.focusonpersecution.com/
International Christian Concern http://www.persecution.org/
Open Doors http://www.odusa.org/
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service http://www.lirs.org/
Lutheran World Relief http://www.lwr.org/
The U S Department of State, International Religious Freedom http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/
About Me
- Father Daniel
- Vocation: I am a Lutheran priest. Profession: As a full-time chaplain I provide on-scene support and critical incident stress management at traumatic incidents, death investigations,& disasters while coordinating CISM & Chaplain deployments. I am also a member of the Society of Saint Polycarp.
