Dash of Thought March 2025

"Pray not primarily that the oppression of the Church will stop, but pray that we will mature and that mistrust will not drive us apart." One of our pastors from North Africa invited the congregation with whom we celebrated a service at a meeting of leaders at the end of February 2025 to do just that. In addition to an invitation to pray, it was also a very personal testimony. His main concern was not that the storm would subside, but that their faith and trust would grow.
The fact that he formulated his prayer request in this way touched me deeply and made me think. I would have expected him to invite us to pray that God would turn this difficult situation around for the Church. After all, that is what Jesus' disciples had done in the story of the calming of the storm (Luke 8:22ff), which had been suggested by the Herrnhut Watchwords for this very Sunday: "Master, Master, we’re going to drown!" Panic had gripped them. Filled with fear, they woke Jesus, who had fallen asleep. Jesus got up and put the wind and the waves in their place, whereupon it became very quiet. He then turned to the disciples, looked at them and asked them: "Where is your faith?" Where is your trust?
Our Church in North Africa and our leaders are going through a difficult time. They need a lot of wisdom and courage for their ministry.
It is a stormy time for the Church, and for people elsewhere, too – albeit in a very different way,. The pressure on the global political community is more palpable in these weeks than it has been for a long time. We are also observing political upheaval in individual European countries, with sometimes dramatic consequences for the population, for example in economic terms. Our worldwide United Methodist Church and, in many countries, the Church in general are also affected by such turbulent times. All of this is depressing many people.
Let us pray for faith! Let us pray that our trust in our Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, but also in one another will grow, and that we, the Church, and the human community will mature! Let us pray that mistrust will not divide the world, but that we will recognize and follow paths of Shalom that lead us to one another.
 
Bishop Stefan Zürcher