Memorial service for Tom Fox

Today there is a memorial service for Tom Fox in Washington. As I'm here in Baghdad I sadly can't attend, but I remember his simplicity, commitment to Iraq and non-violence, practicality and gentle nature. He was far from a perfect man, but Jesus shone through him very clearly. Here are a few words written for his memorial by Norman Kember, who spent the first 3 months with him in captivity:

"His loyalty to the CPT ethic of nonviolence was outstanding. He led worship in Quaker style and in Bible Study followed the 4 exercises for each: first impressions, relevance to our life experience, difficulties in understanding and how the message would change our life. His contributions to these discussions were often profound and based on his extensive reading. It was like having Rene Gerard present with us. I remember Tom for his outstanding humanity. We often heard explosions in the city and he would pray for the victims and their families. He reminded us that our deprivations in captivity were paralleled by those in the lives of many in Iraq and the wider world. In captivity he volunteered to take on the greater discomforts. In the many hours of talks together he gave us insights into his love of music, of the natural world and his family. I salute Tom Fox."

Easter Freedom

Holy Saturday is an appropriate time to be in Baghdad. In the Gospels it is a time of gloom. Jesus has been seized by a religious militia, brutally tortured and then executed. His lifeless and mutilated body is lying in a stone tomb. His family and disciples have run out of hope and were probably afraid also for their own lives.

That situation has a immediate resonance here in Iraq. Today dozens of families will be searching through the gruesome photographs in Baghdad morgue, in search of answers they do not want to find, or discretely burying a loved one with a single executioners bullet hole in his head. The situation here is very dark indeed, as one Iraqi told me today about a vision of "a huge devil hovering over the whole country." But... we know that Holy Saturday is not the end of the story... tomorrow comes resurrection. Iraq may have to wait a little longer than that for a new government, let along a new life for its people, but as I worshiped today with the Iraqi congregation of St.Georges Baghdad, shared communion and heard their stories of suffering, I was strengthened by their faith that though the situation remains grim Jesus has indeed conquered the power of death.

As my CPT friend Jim Loney, who was freed from his kidnappers in Baghdad last month, eloquently writes today in the Toronto Star: "There are no easy answers. We must all find our way through a broken world, struggling with the paradox of call and failure. My captivity and rescue have helped me to catch a glimpse of how powerful the force of resurrection is. Christ, that tomb-busting suffering servant Son of God, seeks us wherever we are, reaches for us in whatever darkness we inhabit. May we reach for each other with that same persistence. The tomb is not the final word."