The Pointer October 2020
Rector The Rt Rev Darren McCartney 028 4175 3497 suffragan1@gmail.com
The Magazine of the Church of Ireland Parishes of Clonallon & Warrenpoint with Kilbroney in the Diocese of Down and Dromore His fast lasted seventy-two days. The inmates start to talk to him about his God and Br Yun is able to share his faith with them.
When Br Yun forgave his torturers, fasted, prayed and fed on God’s Word, God did something in that prison in China. People were set on fire for the Lord and the prison authorities couldn’t do anything about it. Br Yun talks of God being glorified though his experiences in prison, he also stated that his worshipping of God was not based on his circumstances but rather on who He (God) is!
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I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10 & 11
Tortured in a prison, needles forced up underneath the fingernails. Br Yun wasn’t thinking nice thoughts towards his captors and those who were torturing him. Sometime after this torture Br Yun felt burdened, not just for his captors but also concerning the attitudes of his own heart and so he entered a time of fasting and prayer.
Brother Yun
Sometime into his fast, a number of Br Yun’s family came to visit, his mother refused to believe the guards, that the person they had brought to see them was her son, not until she saw a small birthmark on his face did, she then believe.
As the days went on in his fast Br Yun’s fellow inmates started to bet each evening as to whether or not he would be alive in the morning.
I like that: God glorified through his experiences in prison and that his worshipping of God was not based on his circumstances. I am convinced that we can do something similar. We may not be imprisoned in the way Br Yun was but, many perhaps, feel the isolation of living on their own or even living with others and feeling alone and not able to connect with friends. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we learnt the same, that our love for and worship of God was not based on life’s circumstances? I get the impression that Br Yun came to know something of what the Apostle Paul was talking about in his letter to the Philippians. A number of verses following (Chapter 3) the verses above, Paul writes, 15
“All of us who are mature should take such a view of things …16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” One of my concerns for our parish is that we would not fail those who have lived and passed on the faith to us. I wish to encourage each of us to die to self and live for Christ. How? Continue to do what we are doing in the service of Christ and to seek ways that we can further spend our lives in his service. Let us live and work for the glory of God rather than self-glory.
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