More news from #Egypt:
Dear friends,
Mike saw the announcement of the regime change just as boarding took place last night. Helen is now in the middle of the world's biggest and noisiest party!
Of course this means that the game has changed but has really only just begun: what will be in place of the old regime is the key question, and how all the processes will work is anyone's guess. Bishop Mouneer's quick note yesterday is a good summary (below), and a good guide for prayer in the coming weeks and months. You can follow his comments on the Diocese of Egypt website.
With much love, and many thanks,
Mike & Helen
_________
"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind
& straining forward to what lies ahead"
My dear friends,
Millions are celebrating in the streets of Egypt,
after President Mubarak has stepped down.
Tonight our beloved Egypt started to write a new chapter of her story.
I pray that no single group would dictate its agenda but all of us must
be given the right & the freedom to write together this chapter.
We need to earnestly pray for God's Grace and wisdom and for
a new and free Egypt. Thank you so much for your prayers.
Yours in Him,
+Mouneer
________
The day Mubarrak went
Well, what were you doing on the day Mubarrak stepped down?
Our regular Friday service. Twenty four of us, to be precise, the remnant of our English-speaking congregation for a while. And Paul’s reminder in 1 Corinthians 3 that God is in the growing and the building business. Not growing numbers at the moment. But growing in depth of faith and relationship as we’ve stuck with each other through a roller-coaster fortnight.
I spent the night and morning in total indecision. Should I go, or should I stay? A long-booked visit to see my parents, two visits planned either side of company meetings in Cyprus. But it didn’t seem like a good moment to go. In the end, I left my wife. Helen pushed me out - “If I were you, I’d have gone an hour ago” she said, and I knew my time was up.
On the day Mubarrak stepped down, I ran to the airport. Actually, apart from one wrong turn into Tahrir Square instead of above it, the fastest journey I’ve ever done. Just after midday prayers, driving through the crowds outside each Mosque warming up for the Day of Farewell, past the tanks and razor wire at the Presidential palace waiting for the demonstrators, and straight up Oruba Road to Terminal 3. As sweet as you like. Almost as fast as the day Obama came, and I got out of the airport ten minutes before him.
The rumour mill that kept us on the edge of our seats followed me all the way to the plane. A whisper that the Vice-President was on board, heading for London. Aye, right. How could he get from the 6 o’clock news screen to the plane? Seeing isn’t always believing here: where was Mubarrak when he addressed the nation last night? Who wrote that script, from another era, another world? And where was he when he resigned today? Sharm el Sheikh, they said. But it didn’t matter where he was. What mattered was what he said. And he said goodbye.
Hours late, we took off. An empty plane that nearly didn’t get here from London, and then crashed soon after take-off - well, the entertainment system. As Brian Cox has it in Red, “This is the last thing I expected when I got up this morning.”
And then the turbulence as we left Egypt. They warned us, but I’ve never hit anything like it and am still shaking. As if to remind us of the times we’re going through. Nothing like a sudden near- death experience to remind us we’re in the hands of forces beyond ourselves.
Which brings us back to Cairo, where we live. Where everything means something, every name, every event. In the street called Michel Lutfallah - Michael, the street of the kindness of God. Indeed. And Mubarrak? It means blessing. A blessed departure, a blessed transition.
But to what? What does it mean? As God says in Isaiah 19:25: “Blessed be Egypt my people.” We don’t do prayer by numbers, but there’s been such a worldwide focus of prayer this last month that doors must open. How will it be for the Gospel in the next era? And how will we in the Churches respond? Religion may be perceived as part of the old regime, of command and control. Can we show that Jesus Christ is the truth, the truth that will set us free? Can we demonstrate to the demonstrators that he alone can bring the hope they’re looking for?