If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.(Mark 8:34 NRSV)

I have appreciated several follow up conversations with parishioners regarding a passionate aside I shared in the Ash Wednesday sermon regarding the strong witness of Coptic Christians in Egypt. The riff was prompted by the troubling news of the 21 Coptic Christian men who were recently abducted and beheaded by ISIS militants in Sirte, Libya.

My first introduction to Coptic Christians occurred in December 1986 when I spent ten days on a study trip to Egypt sponsored by the Middle East Council of Churches. The liturgical richness, incredible hospitality, and strong witness of the Coptic Christian minority in Egypt moved me. I still find their witness both haunting and inspiring in this current predicament.

The Coptic church is one of the oldest in Christendom. According to legend, the church was founded by Saint Mark the Evangelist, who was said to have arrived in Egypt in AD 60. All of Egypt's Christians are referred to as Copts, the Arabic term for all Egyptians before the Islamic conquest (a time when Egypt was 90 percent Christian). Followers of the Coptic Orthodox Church make up the vast majority of Egypt's Christian population today, although there are Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations there as well.

In the year 2000, Copts numbered less than 5 million, or about 6 percent of Egypt's population of 70 million. The Copts make up what is by far the largest population of Christians in any country in the Middle East. Scholars and church officials estimate that in the early 1970s there were 4 million Copts, the same number as today; but that represented 12 percent of Egypt’s population at the time. Even though the Coptic percentage of the total population has decreased, the overall number of Coptic Christians has remained remarkably steady, which is a credit to their witness and courage.

Join me today in giving thanks for the strong witness of the Coptic Christians. May our Christian discipleship be worthy of continual conversation with these seasoned veterans in the faith.

Let us pray . . .
Draw your church together, O God, into one great company of disciples, together following our teacher Jesus Christ into every walk of life, together serving in Christ’s mission to the world, and together witnessing to your love wherever you will send us; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (ELW, p 75)

Contributed by Pastor Dan
Monday March 2, 2015
Liturgical Year B: Week 14
Liturgical Color: Purple
Sunday Gospel reading: Lent 2
Second Sunday in Lent