While most Christians in Sri Lanka were in church last Sunday morning to celebrate the risen Christ on Easter Sunday, bombs went off in four of our cities (Kochchikade, Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo), targeting churches and hotels. with at least 290 killed and 500 wounded in all eight attacks. Some arrests have been made.
There are indications of who was responsible for the attacks, but I don’t want to speculate too much about this and unnecessarily involve those who are not involved in this crime, it is better to be safe and silent than to bear false witness, which is a serious sin. Let us pray that God will guide the security guards to whom He has given the power to be agents of his wrath, punishing the wrongdoers (Romans 13:3-4). As for Christians, we will do what we can to be agents of peace in our fractured land (Romans 12:14-21).
- The Church of Zion in Batticaloa.
- Where at least 28 were killed (including many children).
- Is a vibrant church to which I have preached several times.
- Thamendran.
- Leader of Youth for Christ in eastern Sri Lanka.
- Loved it and fought for his life in the hospital with serious head injuries.
A young man from the Ministry of Sports lost a leg in the Colombo explosion. A couple next to ours and their daughter are dead, their son is in the hospital. As far as we know, there is a former member of Youth for Christ who died in Colombo.
While it may seem foolish to spend time praying when there is a crisis around us, it is the most powerful thing God’s people can do in a national crisis (2 Kings 19). We must mobilize individual and collective prayer among Christians.
Pray that the Church may act with maturity, reflecting God’s holy love: on the one hand, insist that the authorities conduct a thorough investigation and that wrongdoers be punished; and on the other hand, personally and collectively, show love to all, including our enemies. We cannot allow hatred to overshadow our testimony. God will judge the wicked and do so several times through government institutions. Our faith in the doctrine of judgment takes away our bitterness for such a blatant sin. For our part, we do what we can and love our enemies.
Pray that the church will faithfully fulfill its call to be a healer in painful situations. Individually, we can approach those who suffer. I prayed with my Hindu neighbor this morning when he came home to tell me that his sister had died in the explosion. We can also be more corporate on larger projects.
Pray for the wounded and their prompt recovery, and pray that medical services will do their job well.
Pray also for the emotionally wounded and for their firm recovery. Is this a time when we can be agents of God of all comfort through our listening and ministry (2Co 1. 3?4).
Pray for God’s comfort and strength for the many Christians and non-Christians who have been devastated by the loss of their loved ones.
Let us pray that extremist forces will not use these incidents to cause unrest in the country, Christians can act as moderating agents because, even if we are angry about what happened, we are free from bitterness, because we know that a just God who controls history is greater than problems.
We see everything in life through the prism of our faith in a God who is holy love. We know he judges the bad guys, and that’s why we won’t be bitter. We know that he loves the world and that we are called, to be agents of that love. That brings us into action. But we do not do so with a defeatist attitude, we know that God is building his kingdom, which will culminate in the return of Christ, and that our actions are the pillars of this process.
Holy Love will win in the end! Amen, come, Lord Jesus (Apoc 22:20).