Sunday, November 8 Pray for the Persecuted Church

November 7, 9:39 AMSeattle Protestant ExaminerKevin Austin

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Sunday, November 8 is a day set aside by many churches as a day to pray for the persecuted church. 

For those of us in the west the realities of suffering for faith is often a foreign notion.  While some Christians, and certainly people of other faiths, experience some suffering in the United States for their beliefs, nothing can compare to places like Pakistan, Vietnam, or many other places.  In these places pastors disappear in the night, basic freedoms are denied, property is confiscated, lives are lost. 

Sunday, November 8 gives all of us a chance to stand, worship, pray, and act in solidarity with those who suffer.  Eugene Peterson, in his fabulous book, The Jesus Way,  Reminds us in commenting on Isaiah 53:

        "What Moses and his followers did in part, what the Prophet and his congregation did in part, Jesus did whole, complete. Jesus was at one and the same time God and servant. He brought all the elements of God’s proclamation together, and the way he did it was as a servant ‘for us and for our salvation.’ This is a huge mystery that defies comprehension, but the mystery doesn’t prevent participation.
        “But neither did Jesus do it exclusively. He did it uniquely, to be sure, for there is nothing we can do to either add to or take away from what Jesus did and still does. The cross on Golgotha, the place where all this Isaiah 53 imagery comes into focus, is unrepeatable - but cross bearing is not. The uniqueness that is Jesus does not exclude us from participation in his servant ways. We can - we must - participate in Jesus’ work the way Jesus did it and does it and only in the way Jesus did and does it, obedient and joyful servants as we follow our servant Savior who ‘came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

This Sunday we remember those who suffer.  We enter in.  We intercede.

This video gives more insight:

For more:  The Voice of the Martyrs