I Thess. 2:13-16 and Psalm 22:22-24 
Christians around the world are suffering for their faith in Christ. Gordon-Conwell Resources and the World Christian Database reports, that in the 21st century, roughly 100,000 to 160,000 Christians were killed each year. How are we to show our love and solidarity for these our brothers and sisters in Christ?

This is the focus of the sermon for this Sunday's International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. We seek to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are suffering for their faith in Christ by becoming imitators of God’s churches. The pattern for imitating God’s churches is laid out for us in I Thessalonians 2. It is a pattern that doesn’t alleviate suffering, but responds to suffering with the reception of God’s word, recognizing we are of the same family, i.e.God’s churches, therefore pursuing unity as our response to the suffering. 

Christ modeled for us this pattern as it is foreshadowed when the Psalmist proclaims the gospel in our Old Testament reading. He sees the Lord’s Anointed as the one who reveals the name of the Lord to his “brothers” and calls them to honor and reverence the Lord. They can be assured that their suffering is not devalued, since the Lord has not hid his face and his suffering and cries have been heard. Christ’s death and resurrection is the proof he was heard, the assurance that our suffering is not despised, and the hope that nourishes our endurance while persecuted. 

Christ did all this for us. He became like us so that we could become like him. He suffered for us so that we might be comforted in all our suffering. Becoming imitators of God’s churches is done only in embracing the gospel of Christ. And our prayers for our persecuted brothers and sister, like Christ’s love, is without borders.