Today, Thursday 28 November,
2013 is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. This peculiarly American festival dates
back to 1621 when the settlers of Plymouth Massachusetts held a harvest feast
after a successful growing season.
According to Wikipedia, “The
event that Americans commonly call the ‘First Thanksgiving’ was celebrated by
the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. This feast
lasted three days, and it was attended by 90 Native Americans (as accounted by
attendee Edward Winslow) and 53 Pilgrims. The New England colonists were
accustomed to regularly celebrating ‘thanks-givings’days of prayer thanking God
for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought……….
The tradition of giving
thanks to God is continued today in many forms, most notably the attendance of
religious services, as well as the saying of a mealtime prayer before
Thanksgiving dinner. Many houses of worship offer worship services and events
on Thanksgiving themes the weekend before, the day of, or the weekend after
Thanksgiving.
At home, it is a holiday
tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace….
Before praying, it is a common practice at the dining table for each person to
tell one specific reason they’re thankful to God that year."
Thanksgiving has developed
as a civil as well as a religious occasion. It is also a time when families
strive to be together over the holiday.
It is therefore particularly
poignant that in 2013, many Christians in America will leave an empty place at
their Thanksgiving dinners as a sign of solidarity with Pastor Saeed Abedini and the persecuted church worldwide.
Saeed Abedini has dual
Iranian and US citizenship. Imprisoned by the Iranian authorities in 2012
because of his faith in Christ, he is serving an eight year jail term in
Tehran's Evin prison.
A true hero of the faith,
Saeed Abedini was first arrested in 2009. His crime was that of carrying out
the Great Commission. He had grown, and was supporting, a network of
underground house gatherings. In Iran, those who convert to Christianity are
forbidden by law from worshipping in churches.
Journalist Carey Lodge,
writing in ‘Christian Today’ recently reported that: “In prison, Pastor Saeed
has endured long stints in solitary confinement, and beatings and torture at
the hands of his jailers and fellow inmates.
He has been told by his
captors to deny his faith, but he has repeatedly refused to do so. In a letter
written from prison, he says his response to his persecutors is Romans 8:35-39:
“Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness
or danger or sword?
As it is written:‘For your
sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we
are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
In a recent message from
prison, Pastor Saeed thanked his supporters for their continued prayers saying:
"I rejoice knowing that in my chains the body of Christ has chained
together and is brought to action and prayer".
On this Thanksgiving Day,
Christians should especially remember all those who stand for Christ in the
face of extreme violence and unimaginable circumstances.
Let’s continue to be chained
to and in prayer with these 21st century martyrs. The Living God
expects no less from His people!
To connect with Pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini, sign up for Facebook
today.
www.facebook.com/PrayForPastorSaeedAbedini
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