Our Suffering Brothers & Sisters in the Anglican Communion

Today the Church remembers the Martyrs of Sudan, and it also brings into focus the importance of our Anglican Communion.  On this day in 1983, the Christian bishops, chiefs, commanders, clergy and people of Sudan declared that they would not abandon God as God had revealed himself to them under threat of Shariah Law imposed by the fundamentalist Islamic government in Khartoum.

Until a peace treaty was signed on 9 January 2005, the Episcopal Church of the Province of the Sudan suffered from persecution and devastation through 22 years of civil war. Two and a half million people were killed, half of whom were members of this church. Many clergy and lay leaders were singled out because of their religious leadership in their communities.

No buildings, including churches and schools, are left standing in an area the size of Alaska. Four million people are internally displaced, and a million are scattered around Africa and beyond in the Sudanese Diaspora. Twenty-two of the 24 dioceses exist in exile in Uganda or Kenya, and the majority of the clergy are unpaid. Only 5% of the population of Southern Sudan was Christian in 1983. Today over 85% of that region of 6,000,000 is now mostly Episcopalian or Roman Catholic. A faith rooted deeply in the mercy of God has renewed their spirits throughout the years of strife and sorrow.

These are our suffering brothers and sisters in faith.  They have given up much because of their love for Christ.  They are part of our Anglican Communion.

Let us pray: O God, steadfast in the midst of persecution, by your providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: As the martyrs of the Sudan refused to abandon Christ even in the face of torture and death, and so by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest, may we, too, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

We will honor our graduates this Sunday, 20 May, at the Eucharist.

Sunday, 27 May, is Pentecost. Please remember to wear something red that day as we celebrate the birth of the Church.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially all of those suffering for their faith, Patricia, Robert, all of those who are ill, those seeking employment, and all of those who have no one to pray for them.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550