In the fall of 2005 I made
friends with Titus Presler. He had left
his position as President of the Seminary of the Southwest and took a position
at General Seminary as the academic dean.
Despite what you might be thinking--I was not "called" to the
Dean's office! Before Time Warner had
installed internet in our tiny apartment, I had to send out some short prayers
I had written each evening for a campus group using the campus Wi-Fi. The only place I could get a signal in the
evening was in the building where the IT office was. Titus' office was on the
floor directly below the IT office, and there were a couple of chairs in the
hallway. So I quietly made my way to
this spot with my laptop each evening.
One evening his door was open as he unpacked some boxes of books. He noticed me and came out in the hall to
find out—in a most pleasant way—who I was and why I was there.
After that, we occasionally found
ourselves at the same table at lunch. I got to know his wife, Jane, who worked
in the world mission section of the Presiding Bishop's office and had coffee
with her. He made a special point of speaking with me after my senior sermon
with positive feedback. And I audited his world mission class my final semester
at General.
I heard that he did not remain at
General, probably a casualty of the turmoil going on between the faculty and
the administration. I knew that his
wife's job had been eliminated, and she (also an Episcopal priest) was serving
at various churches in the New York City area.
I wondered what they were going to do next.
Then I learned that he had been
appointed to the position of Principal at Edwardes College in Peshawar,
Pakistan. I'm not exactly sure what his job entailed, but I knew his commitment
to the new way of doing world mission. This new way entails walking with the
people to whom you have gone to accomplish the goals they have developed. Yet
Pakistan seemed so foreign, so dangerous.
Why did he choose to go there? It
may have been that his particular set of skills and his experience were
needed.
Edwardes College was founded in
1900. It is currently owned by the Church of
Pakistan, an ecumenical union of Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, and
Presbyterians. Here is Titus'
description of the college:
"Edwardes is not a Christian enclave: 92 percent of the 2,800
students are Muslim, 7 percent are Christian, and 1 percent are Hindu or Sikh;
90 percent of the 105 faculty members are Muslim; and the campus includes a
mosque as well as a chapel."
But the government of the provincial
area wanted control of the college and engaged in acts of intimidation and even
physically abused a Christian administrator.
Titus was no longer safe in Peshawar and went to live in Islamabad with
a Muslim who believes that religious minorities should not be persecuted. The
government continued to try to take over the college. A lawsuit by the college tried to block this
take-over, and Titus returned from the U. S. to testify.
He described what happened in a
recent article in Christian Century: "In February of this year, I received
a safe-passage letter from Pakistan’s Interior Ministry and traveled back to
Pakistan to appear in Peshawar High Court to support the diocese’s lawsuit
against the government’s takeover bid. On our way out of the city, ISI agents
flagged down me and my host, tore up the safe-passage letter, and hauled me
into their vehicle. For about eight minutes two agents, one on each side, beat
me with fists while the agent in the front seat accused me of being a CIA
agent, warned me to leave Pakistan, threatened to kill me, and ripped the work
visa out of my passport. My host argued strenuously with agents who were
keeping watch outside and prevented a worse outcome by securing my release. In
mid-April I arrived home to my family in Vermont, where I remain while the
church works to resolve the situation.
"As we drove away from our
attackers, the prayer that came to my mind was this: “Friend Jesus, this and so
much worse is what your Christian brothers and sisters have been experiencing
here in Pakistan for so long. This and so much worse is what your Muslim
brothers and sisters and others have been experiencing here for so long. Now I
know it firsthand. I’m not thankful for the beating, Friend Jesus, but I am
thankful for the knowledge. And for still being alive.”
I, too, am grateful that Titus
survived this horrific experience. He
concluded his article by describing his heightened solidarity with the people
he was serving in Peshawar. And he asks
for us "to join in prayer and mission" with Christians who live in
fear of their lives, but who steadfastly maintain their faith.
Indeed, as Matthew gospel tells
us, Jesus admonished his disciples, "If any want to be my followers, let
them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will
lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." I doubt that Titus took his job at Edwardes
thinking that he could be martyred. We
may also find ourselves unexpectedly in situations where more is demanded of us
physically, emotionally or spiritually than we ever expected.
As we listen for God's leading in
these situations, let us remember Jesus' assurance that God will honor our
commitment to act with compassion, trusting that God will not abandon us--even
if it means making ourselves vulnerable to losing whatever has always seemed
most important to us. Yes, let us trust in God’s faithfulness; let us trust in
God always--through every circumstance!
Titus Presler, "Persecuted in Pakistan," Christian Century, September 3, 2014, p. 20-21.
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