Kill the Brave Ones

“the kingdom of God suffers violence”

The crow I shot was crazy.

For some reason, he chose to peck against the establishment and to attack the norm.  He really thought he should be on the inside and, of course, that was preposterous.  But, he was not unlike the prophet who sees things others cannot and is thought to be “mad” because of his vision.

Right now in the Middle East there are millions crying out to “get in” to the blessings of freedom and democratic rule.  It began with an uprising in Tunisia, which is still feeling tremors and has spread to Egypt, and possibly Jordan.  Although none of us desire to see violence spread, sadly it is an inevitable part of change in many situations.  How will things end?  We do not know.  There are many twists and turns on the road to permanent benevolent change.  But, maybe the beginnings can tell us much about its intended destination.  

After a New Years Mass, a suicide bomber attacked a Coptic Church in Alexandria Egypt, killing twenty-one persons.  In the aftermath, there were reported clashes between angry Christians and the Egyptian police over the killings.  An Associated Press article from January 1, 2011, gives insight on why these subsequent clashes occurred….

The bombing, about a half hour after the stroke of the New Year, stoked tensions that have grown in recent years between Egypt's Christians and the Muslim majority.  It was dramatically different from past attacks on Christians.  Christians have increasingly blamed the government for not taking violence against them, or anti-Christian sentiment among Muslim hard-liners, seriously.

In the wake of the New Year's bombing, they unleashed their rage at authorities.  "Now it's between Christians and the government, not between Muslims and Christians," shrieked one Christian woman as several hundred young men clashed with helmeted riot police in the street outside the targeted church hours after the blast.  Blood splattered the facade of the church, a painting of Jesus inside, and a mosque across the street.  The blast mangled at least six cars on the street, setting some ablaze.

Health Ministry spokesman, Abdel-Rahman Shahine, said the death toll stood at 21, with 97 wounded, almost all were Christians.  Egypt's top Muslim leaders also expressed their condolences and solidarity with Christians, and the biggest fundamentalist opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the bombing.  

But, many Christians in Alexandria were seething. Soon after the explosion, youths clashed with police, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross," witnesses said.

In the aftermath of this horrendous act, a new voice was heard in Egypt.  A January 7, 2001 AP Article quotes: "I know it might not be safe, yet it's either we live together, or we die together, we are all Egyptians.”  Such are the words one expects of great leaders on the battlefield, of politicians preparing a nation for war, of civic leaders rallying people for an inspiring cause.  But, these are the words of Cherine Mohamed, a 50-year-old Egyptian housewife.  These words became a slogan of sorts for many brave Egyptian Muslims who chose yesterday to risk their lives in the wake of the New Year's violence and attend Christmas Masses with their Coptic Christian brethren, serving as human shields against further potential acts of extremist violence on the Christian holy day.>> Full Story 

This human shield was the response of a mostly young and restless population of Egyptians who have watched as sectarian violence has been allowed to go on unchecked in their nation.

Will their dream of a more democratic and religiously tolerant Egypt come true?   I do not know.  Their bravery of those following Mohamed El Baradei cannot be doubted.  They have taken the world by surprise, by mounting a successful protest against a tyrant.  Mubarak may be deaf, but the message is loud and clear: He has to go.  For sure, they will be severely challenged by the Muslim Brotherhood who will attempt to use this popular uprising in order to assume power and bring Islamic law into full force.  We pray this will not be the case and that somehow the prophets of progress will break through the walls of oppression for a new day in Egypt. 

While we are dreaming, why not go all the way and dream along with the prophet Isaiah?  He dreamed of a united Egypt, Israel, and Syria. Not only were they together, but they were together in the Lord!

Isaiah 19:22-24 (English Standard Version)

^“ And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.²³ In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria,⁽and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. ²⁴In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.”

Join me in prayer for those courageous (and yes, crazy) enough to dream God’s dreams and see God’s vision!

Pastor Rick

Why Did You Shoot Me?

Why Did You Shoot Me?

“who kills the prophets…” Luke 13:34

The dream was surreal. A crow was standing in my open bedroom window looking down on me as I used my pillow to fight back the morning rays of light! With one wing bandaged and sporting a British accent he asked, “Why did you shoot me?” The accent probably comes from watching too many episodes of Heckle and Jekyll as a kid, but the bandaged wing and the question he asked came from a day back in November when I decided enough was enough!

Since March, this crow along with a noisy entourage had plagued our District Office in Macon. The ladies at the front of building were bothered by a steady diet of cawing. They made such a terrible racket that my co-workers had a hard time concentrating. Not only that, but they made a terrible mess at the front door so that no one would even want to come in through that entrance. One lady put out rubber snakes. Many things were tried and all of them failed. The crows had a party on a daily basis at our expense. If it had only been the persistent cawing and the nasty littering of the walk that would have been bad enough, but there was more.  What worsened the situation was the incessant pecking by one crow. He was destroying the reflective coating on the glass surrounding the entrance. Some people said that he could see himself in the glass and that he was attacking his own reflection. Others said that the shiny glass was pretty and crows like pretty things. I think he just wanted to get in very badly! I really am not sure how anyone could possibly know what caused this strange behavior for sure, but I have my own hypothesis and it is contained in the answer I gave in my dream. He was crazy enough to think he belonged inside!

Every day, the crazy one would go out and attack the huge glass front of our building and the others crowded around to watch. Some days he would do it with so much vigor that he bled on the glass and concrete entrance. My solution was simple and yes, final. A trip to the sporting goods store for a pellet rifle (I had already tried my Red Ryder BB Gun and I think they ate the BB’s!) and scope. The first outing brought a bit of humor as I tried to explain to a young Russian pastor who was visiting our office, what I was doing in the bushes outside the office. It was a tough translation!

The second day, I struck gold. The crazy crow was by himself pecking at the window. No crow guards were on lookout and he was so caught up with his own show that he never saw me or the pellet coming. The result was a wing shot that knocked him from the roof of our building and a foot chase that had me losing him in some bushes in the adjoining property. This crow was not only crazy but fast, too!

The next day, I dropped by the office on way to a meeting in Florida. One of my co workers gave me the latest news. “My crow” was in the front yard. The result was me chasing him through the parking lot toward an Orthodontist office next door. As I got nearer the building full of children and parents awaiting their time with the doctor, I had the very real sensation that I was being watched. Still in our office’s parking area, I decided to retire my rifle and get on the road. Maybe ten minutes later as I filled my truck up with gas nearby, I saw the collateral damage from my hunt as police cars and vans sped toward my building with sirens blaring and blue lights flashing. I had been reported by the office next door and they came with weapons drawn to take care of the “suburban terrorist.” I did what any good pastor would do and let the police sort things out with my fellow workers who had to come out with their hands up!

That crazy crow, doomed to die with broken wing, was sure a “peck” of trouble for me! Maybe he was a “prophet” crow stirring up trouble and that is why he was sitting in my window preaching a sermon through a question. God used a donkey once, (and probably millions more after that) to speak, why not a crow?  “Why did you shoot me?” was more than a question as to why his wing was broken, it was a statement as to the continuing tradition of God’s people to kill the “crazy ones”  so there is no more fuss or mess!  It worked for me. Once I took care the “crazy one” the crow party was over. Their attempt to get into the glass building was a failed one. After having looked into the promise land they still could not enter. The remainder of the crows, even though adoring of whatever they saw in the “prophet crow” left when he was dispatched into crow heaven.  

On one very practical level I am glad I shot that crazy crow. But I have to confess that at a deeper level I’m not so sure!

 More to come in my next Blog.