Article September 2, 2013 Issue

My prayers for Syria

Anne Melville

For well over two years now, war has been raging in Syria. The fight is between the present regime and disparate opposition groups. Some want democracy and others support Islamic rule. Multiple attempts to broker a political solution have failed. Both the regime and the opposition are suspected of war crimes, refugees are fleeing the country in the thousands, and as of this writing over 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed.

For a while, I had been trying to pray for peace in Syria. But I had felt unable to pray. I struggled to see and know that the light of the Christ—the spiritual idea of God—was present in this nation, made up mostly of Muslims, and also some Christians. And I felt unsure of the effectiveness of my prayer.

Then I read the story of Jonah. Briefly: Jonah is sent by God to Nineveh to tell its people that their city will be destroyed because of their wickedness. Jonah doesn’t want to do this and “escapes” by going to sea. During a raging storm that follows, he tells the ship’s sailors to throw him overboard because he believes his disobedience is the reason for the storm.

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