Iraq's Christians Cry: "Please Don't Leave Us"

BAGHDAD-Canon Andrew White, Vicar of St. George’s Baghdad, reports in a series of email updates sent to ANS, of the worsening crisis in the country and the suffering of the Christians which has intensified over the last few months. Andrew described the situation as having “gotten worse and worse and worse”.Christians have been kidnapped, murdered and forced to leave their homes and many caught up in the multiple suicide attacks that are every day events in Iraq. Several families are now taking shelter in St George’s Church too afraid to leave the building.
Andrew, the President of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation for the Middle East (FRRME), has taken church services in the bomb-scarred remains of the church, which is surrounded by barbed wire fences as it has been since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.But just getting to church on a Sunday morning is a journey that very few Church of England ministers would make.Wearing body armour, a helmet and his Cross of Nails from Coventry Cathedral, Andrew is escorted from the “Green Zone” to the Church by armed Special Forces. More often than not Andrew has seen with his own eyes the death and destruction with bodies littering the route. He can smell death.As Andrew walks into the church, there is spontaneous applause from the thirteen hundred plus congregation, some of whom are Muslim, all happy to see him, he has not left them.So many want to talk, or just touch him, as he walks to the pulpit to preach a message of hope and love. The Children nosily race into the Church every Sunday and throw their arms around “Abouna Andrew” Father.Every one can sense the presence of God’s love in him and through him....
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As in the days of Noah...