Muslim leaders insist that “Allah” must be restricted for usage in Islam, else “young or unsuspecting Muslims” might get confused and convert to Christianity. That “argument” is impossible to take seriously. If some Muslims are confused about the meaning of words used by Islam, the real problem is inadequate teaching by Muslim imams. Why penalise Christians because Islamic clerics can’t or won’t teach their own followers?

This BCC report has it right: This controversy is about religious freedom far more than it is about language.

h/t: Persecuted Church Weblog

According to [CFI President Jim] Jacobson, “When it comes to human rights and the treatment of minority Christians, Egypt has an extremely poor track record. The president should have a lot to talk about with Egyptian president Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, one of the longest-serving leaders in the Arab world. We hope he uses this as an opportunity to speak out for persecuted, minority Christians in Egypt.”

Most recently, Egypt’s State Council has expressed outrage at the attempt by an Egyptian convert from Islam to Christianity to have his conversion legally recognised, calling the case “a threat to societal order” and a violation of sharia.

Doug Bandow reminds us that Christian persecution is an ever-present reality throughout the Muslim world.

[N]o [interfaith] conversation will have any meaning if it does not address Islam’s brutal reality: the consistent persecution of Christians, Jews, and members of other minority faiths.
[…]
[P]ast Western dialogue with Islam has consistently missed the elephant in the room: Pervasive religious persecution.
[…]
In fact, it is unusual to find an Islamic nation where religious minorities are not discriminated against, both legally and socially. One of the best predictors that a government persecutes, or fails to protect religious minorities from persecution, is that the majority faith is Islam.

We shall see whether Obama cares about “Islam’s brutal reality” and the plight of Christians in Muslim nations when he delivers his speech on 4 June.

The United States is embattled in an escalating culture war on the issue of same-sex marriage. If the battle plays out as it did in Canada, many Christians and many churches will run for cover instead of speaking clearly what the Bible has taught for 2,000 years. But like a voice crying in the wilderness, a little-known beauty queen from California has stunned both Christians and non-Christians by her brave stand for traditional marriage.

Mr Hamel believes that Perez Hilton targeted Carrie Prejean for “outing” because she had attended a Christian school.

Who can doubt that the question by Hilton was deliberately chosen to expose Prejean’s beliefs?

Knowing she was from a Christian college, he undeniably had a clear idea what she believed. He knew that she couldn’t falsify an answer and still be true to her convictions. Hilton’s question was designed to out Prejean as a Christian who believed in traditional marriage.

Who knew that a time would come when Christians would need to be “outed”? In any case, his question hit the mark.
[…]
This outright attack and bullying of a public figure because of their religious beliefs is more than a little troubling. To put this in perspective, Prejean simply stood up for basic Christian teaching on marriage (Jesus clearly defines marriage in Matthew 19 as involving male and female).

Doesn’t it seem somewhat presumptuous to accuse Jesus of discrimination and hatred? Shouldn’t God get to establish the basic ground rules of the institutions He created?

Amen to that.

Further to this, see today’s column by Amanda Platell in Britain’s Daily Mail: “Insults that betray the bigotry of gay zealots”.

UPDATE:  Proving the point, a bigot has left a comment slagging me and “Carrie Prejea” [sic].

On the morning of Sunday, 26 April, hundreds of Egyptian State Security officers demolished a service building belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church.  When news of the attack was disseminated to local Christians, people gathered at the scene to prevent further damage, but then the officers turned on them as well.  Coptic priests were assaulted; men and women were tied up and beaten.

In a phone call with the Middle East Christian Association, a member of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Marsah Matrouh confirmed the news that the State Security forces attacked and demolished the services building of the Coptic Orthodox Church there.

“They have also assaulted the Coptic priest, Father Matta Zakaria, who tried to defend the demolition of the services building, as well as those present in the building”, added the Church member.

Thirteen Security lorries with a 700-man force of the State Security went into the one storey services building, attacked a homeless Coptic family who was sheltering there, and whose head was assigned to guard the building. They tied up the screaming women to chairs after beating them, until the full demolition of the building was undertaken. The family men, including the guard who were outside the building were beaten, tied and then loaded unto the State Security lorries.

The matter deteriorated further when the Christians knew of the news, and flocked to the place, in order to prevent the demolition work. They clashed with the Government forces; the forces have beaten them with sticks, and the people retaliated in self-defense.

The local council says it has no knowledge of a demolition order.  It would then appear that a high-ranking state security official took it upon himself to order a 700-man crew with trucks and bulldozers to destroy a privately owned building without warning and without authorisation.

It’s hard to reconcile this and many other incidents of official persecution with the recent claim by President Hosni Mubarak that all Egyptian citizens enjoy equal civil rights.

Photo from Middle East Christian Association.

In last week’s letter, Mubarak referred to himself as president of all Egyptians and stated that, while religion is a personal matter, the state governs all equally.

My question would be, is Mr. Mubarak using “Taquiah” when he is addressing Copts and non Arabic Muslim states? The reason of my question is based to certain facts occurred in Egypt. The facts reported here represent a very small part of the Copts’ daily dilemma.

Less than ten months ago a barbaric attacked [sic] by Arab Muslims took place in an ancient Coptic monastery, Abu-Fana. The Egyptian government did nothing to protect the unarmed monks or the valuable and historic building. Three monks along with a farmer who was working at the monastery were kidnapped. The monks were released after twelve hours of torture but no word has come out about the farmer.

The important thing is no official statement was released to condemn such a barbaric action.

Girls were kidnapped, raped, and forced to convert with the blessing of Mr. Mubarak’s law enforcement. In these four months of 2009, nine Coptics girls were kidnapped.

More examples follow of persecution and discrimination of Copts that are either ignored or even abetted by Egyptian authorities. These examples are “typical in the daily life of the country”, but it is also important to remember that Copts have been oppressed since the armies of Islam conquered Egypt 1400 years ago.

Another piece recently posted at Voice of the Copts points out that Article 2 of the Egyptian constitution, naming Islam the religion of the state and Islamic jurisprudence the principal source of legislation, was only added in 1980, during the presidency of Anwar Sadat. How can Christians be treated equally, as Mubarak claims, when the constitution grants Islam state privileges?

Voice of the Copts is joining the freedom lovers in Egypt and demanding the removal of the second article of the Egyptian constitution.
[…]
Few days ago, in a letter sent to Copts in the Diaspora, Mubarak indicates that “all citizens enjoy their civil rights and an individual’s faith is a personnel [sic] matter; the country is for all.” I wonder how a citizen could enjoy his civil rights and his personal faith when the constitution indicates the opposite.

Thus, Hosni Mubarak is accused of Taquiah.

ANHRI also alleges that the arrest “occurred with the collaboration of the Church in [his hometown of] Naga Hammadi”.

The controversy began on October 1st 2008, when some young Muslims were browsing Hani’s blog and found a link to another site containing an electronic novel called “Azazil’s Goat in Mecca” which included an attack on Islam. This work was written by an anonymous author under the name of “Father Utah.” The novel came in response to Yusuf Zidane’s famous novel “Azazil,” which was considered by some conservatives as offensive to Christianity.

Some young people in Hani’s village became very angry and thought he was the author of the story. Security Forces took this opportunity to arrest Hani Nazeer in order to get rid of the problems raised by his blog because of his strong opposition to both Muslim and Christian hardliners.
[…]
The crime against Hani was further agravated [sic] by Anba Cyrilus, Bishop of Naga Hammadi, when he asked the family to keep silent in order not to upset the state security.

Since Mr Nazeer’s arrest, “Father Utah” has continued to post at other Christian blogs. Nazeer’s own blog has been emptied of content.

Nazeer is an inmate at Burj Al Arab prison, where at least two other bloggers are currently imprisoned.

h/t: Religious Intelligence

She recently spoke about the power of forgiveness at a mission congress in Germany.

Susanne shared what led her to making this powerful statement of forgiveness on Turkish television: “The next day I was asked if I wanted to say something to the media and I thought no I don’t want to do that. But then the pastors there said they always wanted the opportunity to say something to the people of their country so I thought it might be something good to do.

“So I made a quick prayer and the word from the Lord came to my mind when Jesus was on the cross and said ‘Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.’ I thought yes that’s it and it was like something from heaven had fallen down and told me this verse and so I stood up and went to these people and said: ‘Okay I’ll do what Jesus did’ and it was just a brave thing first of all to do what Jesus did to forgive them, so I did. Then afterwards the feelings came.”

The impact of one sentence

I asked Susanne how the press responded to her words of forgiveness: “I think one of the press said what missionaries couldn’t do in one thousand years I did in one sentence. There were a lot of good responses.

“I don’t know what the perpetrators thought because I’m not allowed to talk to them but in the first hearing one of the lawyers came to me on behalf of one of the accused and said he was sorry. That was the only thing I heard.”

I take this opportunity to recommend most highly the new documentary about the Malatya martyrs, which I watched yesterday evening. It features interviews with the widows and friends of the martyrs, many photographs of a beautiful country, and some historical background on modern Turkey. Eyewitnesses give accounts of the horrible events of 18 April 2007. Pastors and other Christians who knew the three slain men speak very honestly about their hopes and fears in the wake of the killings.

After seeing the film, I am in awe of the witness of Turkish Christians. Turks are taught from school that Christians are divisive and selfish foreigners who seek to destroy Turkish society. Anti-Christian propaganda appears regularly in the popular media. I thank God that Turkish brothers and sisters remain faithful despite widespread animosity and persecution.

I encourage every Western Christian to see this humbling and inspiring documentary. (Click here or here for purchase information.)

What’s more, the police carried out the arrest even though they don’t have a copy of the marriage contract.

Christian convert Raheal Henen Mussa and her Coptic husband are hiding from police and her Muslim family for violating an article of Islamic law (sharia) that doesn’t exist in the Egyptian penal code.

Police arrested Mussa, 22, on April 13 for marrying Sarwat George Ryiad in a customary marriage (zawag al ‘urfi), an unregistered form of matrimony in Egypt made without witnesses. It has gained popularity among Egyptian youth but is not sanctioned by most Islamic scholars.

The two signed a marriage contract between themselves. Only Ryiad and their attorney have a copy. Police have not obtained a copy of the contract, but they used its existence as a pretext for arresting Mussa.

So, under Egyptian law, no crime was committed, and Islamic scholars don’t even recognise the marriage. Why exactly was Raheal Henen Mussa arrested?

This is the latest in a long series of incidents of official persecution of Christian converts by Egyptian authorities.

Ex-Muslim Martha Samuel was arrested in December as she was about to leave Egypt with her family. She was reportedly raped and tortured while in custody. In January, she was granted bail by a judge who told a lawyer he wanted to kill her.

In November, a Coptic priest was sentenced to five years for marrying a Christian man and a woman who had converted from Islam to Christianity. In March 2008, a Christian husband and his wife were sentenced to ten years for getting married. She was a convert from Islam.

Exactly what law did these people violate?

“Eritrea’s government is turning the country into a giant prison,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
[…]
Based on more than 50 interviews with Eritrean victims and eyewitnesses of abuses in three countries, the report describes how the Eritrean government uses a vast apparatus of official and secret detention facilities to incarcerate thousands of Eritreans without charge or trial. Many of the prisoners are detained for their political or religious beliefs, others because they tried to evade the indefinite national service or flee the country.

Torture, cruel and degrading treatment, and forced labor are routine for conscripts as well as detainees. Detention conditions are appalling, with detainees typically held in overcrowded cells – sometimes underground – or in shipping containers that reach searing temperatures by day and are freezing at night.

Those who try to flee risk severe punishments and the possibility of being shot while crossing the border. The government also punishes the families of those who escape or desert from national service with exorbitant fines or imprisonment. Despite these severe measures, thousands of Eritreans are trying to escape their country.

The Eritrean government has long been known as one of the world’s worst persecutors of Christians. Thousands of believers, including children, are confined in shipping containers or jail cells. At least eight are known to have died in custody in recent years. Eritrea ranks high in lists of countries that trample on the human rights of followers of Jesus.

Last December, authorities conducted another round of mass arrests of Christians, bringing the total in custody to about three thousand.

Earlier this month, Eritrea hauled human rights activist Dania Avallone into an Italian court for daring to demonstrate at Eritrean government sponsored events in Italy.

The HRW report can be downloaded or read online via this page.

Buddhist mobs attacked several churches in Sri Lanka last week, threatening to kill a pastor in the southern province of Hambanthota and ransacking a 150-year-old Methodist church building in the capital.

On April 8, four Buddhist extremists approached the home of pastor Pradeep Kumara in Weeraketiya, Hambanthota district, calling for him to come out and threatening to kill him. The pastor said his wife, at home alone with their two children, phoned him immediately but by the time he returned, the men had left.

Half an hour later, Kumar said, the leader of the group phoned him and again threatened to kill him if he did not leave the village by the following morning. Later that night the group leader returned to the house and ordered the pastor to come out, shouting, “I didn’t bring my gun tonight because if I had it with me, I would use it!”
[…]
Fearing violence, Kumara said he canceled Good Friday and Easter Sunday services and evacuated his children to a safer location.

Mobs plundered churches and intimidated Christians at several locations in Sri Lanka during Holy Week.

The Easter incidents are the latest in a long series of attacks against churches and Christian individuals in recent years, many of them instigated by Buddhist monks who decry the growth of Christianity in the country.

So much for the myth that Buddhism inculcates pacifism in its followers.

[T]he day turned bloody in Gwada, where three churches were burnt while about 26 Christians were injured. In Minna, the Niger Baptist Church was the target of the fanatics who injured five Christian youths and damaged more than five cars.

Our correspondents gathered that the incident in Gwada happened as Christian youths from all churches marched round the town, drumming and rejoicing over their ability to see another resurrection day of Jesus Christ.

It was learnt that as the procession continued, some Muslim youths, who apparently had pre-planned their action, appeared and started attacking the Christian youths, injuring some of them.

Police arrested 110 people for theft and causing public disturbances. All pleaded not guilty; the magistrate ordered them held in custody until the next hearing, scheduled for 28 April.

h/t: Associated Baptist Press

Although Christians make up only some three percent of India’s overall population, in some areas their votes could be decisive.

The Church plays a crucial role in several Christian pockets, especially in Kerala, Goa and some northeastern states. The election comes at a time when Christians are facing challenges from governments and religious fundamentalists in various places.

In the southern state of Kerala, Church leaders are at odds with ruling communists, whose government they claim is trying to smother Christians. Media have accused Kerala-based Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of Ernakulam-Angamaly, president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India, of saying in his recently published biography that communists are a greater evil than the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People’s Party).

However, Christians in the eastern state of Orissa, where Hindu radicals waged seven weeks of anti-Christian violence beginning last August, have identified the BJP as the force to defeat. The party, which supports a Hindu nationalist ideology, was part of the two-party coalition that ruled the state during the violence. When that alliance split on March 7, Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, head of the Catholic Church in the state, said he was happy.

Beginning last August, Orissa was the scene of widespread and pre-planned anti-Christian mob violence.

This year India jumped from No. 30 to No. 22 on Open Doors’ World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most severe persecution. The increased violence is driven by rising anger among Hindu extremists over Christian conversions and the growth of Christianity. Some Hindus charge that the conversions are forced on poor Indians, mostly the lower-caste Dalits, by Christian missionaries. Five states in India have passed anti-conversion laws and two more states are preparing to implement laws.
[…]
Since August in Orissa more than 60 Christians have been killed, 252 churches and 1,500 homes razed or destroyed and an estimated 50,000 Christians displaced. Around 1,500 Christians are still living in refugees camps — and living in fear. Open Doors is partnering with organizations to help the displaced with basic food supplies and medicines.

Abhishek Singh, the director of Open Doors in India, expects persecution to continue to increase in India.

Persecution watchdog organisation Open Doors has initiated a prayer campaign for India and the Christians who live there. A three-page backgrounder with prayer items is posted here. This is the prayer campaign video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoijxxIw6f0[/youtube]

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty calls this “the world’s most important election”, of even greater significance than last November’s US election.

[A]n election [is] pending which will have far more important economic impact on the fate of mankind, causing a fifth of the world’s population either to remain mired in poverty, or to move rapidly toward economic growth and prosperity. That election is in India.

Read the whole thing for analysis of the economic policies and electoral prospects of the various parties.

BBC News has posted a detailed map with brief state-by-state election previews.

h/t: International Christian Concern and The Black Kettle

Compass Direct News reports.

The retired gendarmerie commander and the theology researcher have suspected links to the crime. In January an anonymous letter sent to Turkish churches and obtained by the media claimed that then-commander Ulger instigated the murders and directed Abat to prepare arguments against missionary activity.

According to phone records, Abat made 1,415 telephone calls to gendarmerie intelligence forces in the six-month period prior to the 2007 murders. During his cross examination, he told the courtroom that the frequent contact resulted from gendarmerie requesting information on his research of local missionary activity.

Abat was part of a team of six researchers that focused on the social effects of missionary activity within the Malatya region.

“The information I gave the police and gendarmerie was aimed at answering the criticisms that missionaries had about Islam,” he said.

That works out to almost eight phone calls per day, seven days per week—excessive and suspicious to say the least. And all for some information related to theology and apologetics. Right!

The testimony of Mr Ulger, who was arrested last month for alleged involved in the Ergenekon conspiracy, was also evasive. When asked if he viewed Christian missionary activity in Turkey as a crime, he dissembled.

Avoiding a direct answer, Ulger said no such crime existed in Turkey’s penal system, but that gendarmerie classified such activity as “extreme right-wing.”

“The gendarmerie considers this to be the same [level of extremism] as radical Islamic activity,” he said.

Christian missionaries are as radical as Islamic extremists? That sounds rather like what we heard from the US Department of Homeland Security earlier this week.

This Saturday, 18 April, marks the second anniversary of the brutal murder of the three Malatya Christians. To commemorate their martyrdom, the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey has called for an international day of prayer for Turkey.

Hamoud was arrested on 13th January 2009 and detained at the infamous Eleisha political prison in Riyadh. He had written in his blog of his decision to leave Islam to follow Jesus, and had also been critical of the judicial system in his country, highlighting corruption and human rights abuses. This was the third time that Hamoud had been detained, having been held for nine months in 2004 and for one month in 2008.

Hamoud has been forbidden to leave Saudi Arabia or to appear in the media. New entries have been posted at his blog, Christ for Saudi (Arabic).

After his arrest, Saudi authorities blocked his blog within the country. A few days later, Google closed his blog for alleged terms of service violations. Google restored the blog on 5 February, but gave no explanation for the temporary closure.

As Middle East Concern points out, Hamoud’s release is surprising, since leaving Islam is a capital crime in Saudi Arabia. In August 2008 it was reported that a Saudi man murdered his daughter for converting to Christianity.

May our Lord continue to encourage and protect Hamoud.

h/t: Persecuted Church Weblog

Eklemeddin İhsanoğlu, the OIC Secretary-General, stressed in a statement Monday that “human rights and man’s dignity are an integral part of Islam and core components of Islamic culture and heritage.”
[…]
“An OIC human rights commission would promote tolerance, and fundamental freedoms, good governance, the rule of law, accountability, openness, dialogue with other religions and civilizations, the rejection of extremism and fanaticism, and the strengthening of the sense of pride in the Islamic identity,” he said.

In view of the following, it’s impossible to take any of that seriously.

[O]f the 57 [OIC member states], only six – Benin, Guyana, Indonesia, Mali, Senegal and Suriname – are deemed “free” according to Freedom House assessment. The democracy watchdog scores all nations annually for political rights and civil liberties, classifying them as either “free,” “partly free” or “not free.”

More reasons not to trust the OIC when it comes to human rights:

• Muslim women around the world face crisis over violence
• Afghan Christians worship in secret
• Two imprisoned Iranian Christians in poor health
• Systematic persecution campaign against Palestinian Christians
• Sabatina James at centre of conflict between Islam and human rights
• Regulation of Muslim marriages needed to protect women
• Ladies, cover your entire body, except one eye: Saudi cleric
• Easter for secret believers

“On 18 April 2007, Necati Aydin, Tillman Geske and Ugur Yüksel were murdered for no other reason than actively living and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We know that their deaths, that saddened God’s heart and our hearts, were not in vain,” said a spokesperson for the group.

“We feel that more than any other event, mingling their memory in deep prayer for the country they and we all love, will honour their sacrifice.”

The group is asking Christians to pray that Turkey’s tiny Christian community can be strengthened in the Holy Spirit to live for the glory of God and that the people of Turkey will open their hearts and eyes to the Kingdom of God.

Ninety-eight percent of Turkey’s population is Muslim.

The recently announced film about the Malatya martyrs is now available. Canadians can purchase the DVD for C$13 plus shipping from Voice of the Martyrs Canada. The film is also on sale through the film’s official website for US$11.

The film’s trailer can be viewed here.

Mr. [Ashok] Sahu made the provocative speech at a public meeting at Raikia town April 5. He allegedly accused the church of indulging in conversion. He also allegedly claimed that Congress Rajya Sabha MP Radhakanta Nayak was using foreign money to spread Christianity.
[…]
Mr. Sahu, a senior functionary of VHP [World Hindu Council] and belived [sic] to be mastermind in engineering attacks against christian minority, had also made similar remarks during the communal violence last year. Christian leaders had immediately refuted the allegations.

After listening to a recording of Mr Sahu’s speech, the Election Commission filed additional charges against him under two other sections of India’s Penal Code.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India has issued a statement condemning the use of hate speech by BJP candidates.

The BJP has also nominated for office Manoj Pradhan, who is now in jail accused of being a ringleader in Orissa rioting.

Maher al-Gohari, who is seeking to change his religion on his official documents from Muslim to Christian was asked by a court to provide a conversion certificate from the Egyptian church.
[…]
It is only the second time that such a request has been formally made in a country where converting to Christianity, while not illegal, is practically impossible.
[…]
Highlighting the sensitivity of the topic, the church would not comment on Gohari’s case specifically.

“In general, the church cannot turn away anyone who reaches out to it, otherwise it would be abandoning one its role as a church.”

In other Muslim-majority countries, churches are reluctant to acknowledge Muslim conversions to Christianity for fear of reprisals from Islamic militants.  In some places, Christians risk their lives for publicly confessing Jesus.

The first effort by a Muslim-born Egyptian officially to change his religious affiliation to Christianity ended in failure in January 2008 when a court refused to rule on Mohammed Hegazy’s petition.

Maria Daniela (Dania) Avallone is due in a Rome court on 15 April accused amongst other things, of referring to the Eritrean president as a dictator, continually ’disturbing’ Eritrean government sponsored events in Italy through protesting, and insulting the organisers in Italian and Tigrinya, an Eritrean language.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred last year on 26 October, when around fifty Eritrean government supporters pelted human rights activists who were picketing an Eritrean festival that was opened and attended by the Eritrean Minister of Defence. During the assault Ms. Avallone lost consciousness after a stone struck her in the kidneys, and was kept in hospital overnight for observation.

The legal complaint against Ms Avallone was ostensibly brought by “the Eritrean Community in Italy”. However, signatories to the complaint are said to include at least two members of the Eritrean diplomatic entourage.

Photos taken at the festival protest are posted here with a report in Italian.

The government of Eritrea is one of the most repressive and religiously intolerant in the world. Thousands of Christians, including children, are held in deplorable conditions. At least eight are known to have died in custody in recent years. Eritrea regularly shows up on lists of countries that trample on the human rights of believers.

Last December, authorities conducted another round of mass arrests of Christians, bringing the total in custody to about three thousand.

Reporters Without Borders has ranked Eritrea the worst nation on the planet for press freedom, worse even than North Korea. An estimated 20,000 political prisoners are held in Eritrean jails.

Gospel singer Helen Berhane, who escaped to Denmark in 2007 after two years of imprisonment and torture, last week urged the European Union to withhold a €122 million foreign aid package to Eritrea. She joins an international chorus of objections to the aid proposal, including Reporters Without Borders and the US ambassador to the UN.

Eritrea thumbed its nose at the International Criminal Court last month by inviting the international pariah Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan, for a state visit—his first since the court issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of crimes against humanity.

More news stories of persecution in Eritrea can be seen here and here.

h/t Religious Intelligence

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSYc7VpMlxQ[/youtube]

Easter for Secret Believers

Our Father in heaven, may your family of believers around the world unite this weekend and glorify the risen Lord.

Whether we are

praying at a sunrise service
whispering in an underground church service
witnessing your creation at sunrise
watching a service from a hospital bed
singing in the choir
shivering in a prison cell
reading your Word with our family in secret

OR

praying the Lord’s Prayer in a mosque

…we are the body of Christ.

And we worship you.

Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna for evermore!

h/t: Open Doors USA