Persecution, February 2012

From a newsletter I subscribe to:
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Persecution, February 2012

Dear Friend,

. . .All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
- "Journey of The Magi," TS Elliot

One of my favorite poems is "The Journey of the Magi" from TS Elliot. TS Elliot was probably the most famous and influential poet of his day, and this poem is an autobiographical piece on his journey to Christ using the metaphor of the Magi's journey to the Christ's birth.

I am always struck by the brutal honesty of his struggle to faith and the loss that came with it. In short, he is left a stranger in a strange land, an alien surrounded by strange people "clutching their gods" in an "old dispensation."

I was reminded of this poem as we assembled these testimonies of the persecuted. Their journeys to faith or freedom are often a hard and bitter agony, even if the ultimate prize (their new birth) is beyond what they could have hoped for.

I hope you are inspired by them and gain insight into the people we seek to serve . Would you please join me in bandaging their wounds, building their churches, and caring for the widowed?

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Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. (Hebrews 13:1-3 NIV)

A challenge to me living in Singapore, to remember those who are going through suffering for Christ's name. Comfort is not our calling. Preaching Christ to the nations is. True comfort is to be found in the God of compassion and Father of all comfort.

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