“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).
Here in Hamburg, Lula and I are physically removed from the current struggle between Israel and Iran. At the same time, every day we interact with people who are directly involved. This video, sent to me yesterday, is from our Lutheran church leader friend Sahar Sadlovsky Gold, who was hunkered down Wednesday night in a Tel Aviv air raid shelter with his family and neighbors. Looking to the other front in this war, what do Iranians think? After all, I work with Persian (that is, Iranian and Afghan) immigrants and refugees here in Germany, and so this question is urgent. I asked several Iranian parishioners how they feel about the conflict. While obviously not representative of all Iranians, the following is a typical sentiment in our congregation. “Once upon a time,’ one parishioner replied, “Cyrus freed the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity, and maybe today it is Israel’s turn to free the people of Iran from this evil, dictatorial Islam. We believe that this regime will fall anyway, because no darkness or oppression will last…’The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not comprehended it.’…Although families and those we know, especially in Tehran, are in the heart of the bombing and their lives are in danger, the Islamic Republic have built all their military installations in the heart of residential areas, has closed off exits for people and is using them as human shields and hostages… but with COURAGE and a STRONG HEART, they are hoping for LIFE after half a century of dictatorial abuse…And for a new chapter of Christian awakening to begin in Iran, an era of awareness and salvation!” Wow, powerful words…As my Finnish missionary colleague and friend, Rev. Pasi Palmu, says: “We pray for the country of Iran, that God would liberate it, that peace would reign, that freedom of religion would be allowed, and human rights respected.” May the light of Christ shine in the darkness—not only in this crisis, but all around the world.
The Tiews in Germany 