Tough times offer opportunities for prayer.
Beppeblog notes that the Western hostages recently taken in Iraq are from Christian Peacemaker Teams.
I met some Mennonite CPT volunteers in Jerusalem — on furlough from Hebron — in 1999 and to paraphrase a schmaltzy film, they “made me want to be a better Christian.”
I hope they come home safe, and not just them.
— With my sojourns among the Peace Churches, I’ve met many Brethren and Quakers who have a deeply abiding faith that the Lord does not overcome evil with evil. And so they stand in the midst of violence, as witnesses of human suffering, and as agents of Christ’s compassion.
I’m afraid the media will make the CPT hostages out to be foolish leftist martyrs. But they go with eyes wide open to evil in the world, and with prayers for peace in their hearts.
In their example, I would ask readers to pray not only for the hostages, for the hostage takers, and for the media-reporters who tell their stories.