Responding to Paris 13/11

Jo and I have spent nearly nine months in and near Paris since we ‘retired’. It feels like a second home; so were especially affected and saddened by the events of last Friday evening. Like many other Christians, we were moved to pray: for the victims, the wounded, the bereaved and the traumatised. It was encouraging to see how quickly many Christian churches responded, and became places where people could gather for vigil, to watch and pray, to grasp at some comfort and hope.

At times like this, prayer is not a soft option – not just “the only thing we can do.” It’s a real way of expressing hope and trust, as well as our desire for a world in which there is no hatred – a world where, in Isaiah’s words, “swords will be changed into plough-shares and spears into pruning-hooks.” Mere words fail us; we don’t know what to say - but prayer draws us to the one of whom St John writes: “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”

What more can we do?  We continue to pray for those whose hearts are broken, and for whom our hearts ache – those whose lives have been so brutally cut short, those widowed and orphaned, and the thousands who continue to grieve and who are afraid. We pray for them, though they are unknown to us; for they are known and loved by the God who created them and who, we can dare to say, also weeps for them. And we must continue to pray for them.

Too often, we pray for a few days, and then our attention wanders, and we forget those who are still hurting. And there are others to pray for. We pray for all those who, day after day, live in fear and oppression in the areas under IS control; especially for our Christian brothers and sisters, many of whom suffer terribly, But we also pray for the many Muslims in those areas who suffer abuse and live in fear. We pray that our hearts, and the hearts of Western governments, will not be turned to hatred against Muslims in general, most of whom try to live by the true teaching of the Qu-ran.  We pray for prophetic voices to be heard; that men and women of peace and reconciliation, whether Christian, Muslim or unbelievers, will be raised up and enabled to speak powerfully against the savage and blasphemous parody of Islam that IS represents.

Such prayer is not easy, or cheap. Nor will we see immediate results. But our voices must not be quieted. Jesus’ parables of the unjust judge and the friend calling at midnight remind us that real prayer is persistent and time-consuming. If we really believe that prayer changes things we will persevere. Otherwise we are, in effect, saying “God is powerless to change anything.”

We must not trivialise the evil that has been done by speaking too quickly of forgiveness or understanding; outrage and anger are appropriate. However, in time, we may dare to pray for the leaders and supporters of IS. For did not Jesus tell us, “pray for those who persecute you”? That does not mean pretending that the evil does not matter, or is not powerful; it means declaring that God is more powerful! It is easy to forget that we are all sinners, or to assume that our sins are somehow more excusable.  But St Paul knew the reality and universality of sin, and rejoiced in the Good News, which is that “Christ died for the ungodly...God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6,8.)

We stand against the evil in IS ideology. And we pray for a strengthening of our Christian identity and message. But if we believe what we say we believe about God’s love and the ultimate victory of the Cross, we still need to pray for God’s grace will touch those who believe and promote that ideology. How else will minds be changed and cold hearts warmed?