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| Mardan Church |
It was so sad to hear during the services on Mothering Sunday from members of our congregation who are Pakistani Christians about the attacks in the churches Christian neighbourhood of the Pakistani city of Lahore. The BBC reports that more than 70 people were hurt in the explosions, which targeted worshippers attending at All Saints and the RC Church in the Youhanabad area.
I have met the former Bishop of the Diocese of Peshawar, the Rt Revd Mano Rumalshah and remember him talking about how the Church ministers in what he calls a hostile land. Straddling the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Diocese of Peshawar exists in one of the most hostile settings on earth. Taliban forces take refuge in this area, as part of the diocese encompasses a buffer zone or “lawless” area between the two countries where global powers engage in the war against terrorism. According to Bishop Rumalshah, no real border exists because one tribe of people represents the majority population of both Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan (or NWFP) within the diocese.
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| All Saints, Lahore |
The Gospel is lived in this most difficult situation. Mano describes the Church as “not a church for the poor, because there are too many. We are a church of the poor." The Diocese of Peshawar serves the poorest of the poor with medical and pastoral care as well as educational training. “Anyone who walks through that door is a child of God,” Bishop Rumalshah says . “It’s a costly love, a sacrificial love. It is a precious love.”
That love is an inspiration to us. I pray that we resist the fear and blame that can abound after violence, and work together with all people of faith against terrorism and hatred.