What’s a Christian to do about Egypt?

I stumbled on this interesting conversation started by a blogger who is upset that theological and biblio bloggers are not writing enough about the events in Egypt.

I’m not wise enough to know what to write about these events. Of course, I am not an academic theologian. When I spend 20 minutes trying to get up to speed on the events of the world, I am immediately struck by the fact that the cable news fails to capture the complexity of the world.

Here are some of the latest updates from the region this morning.

Protests continue to dominate downtown Cairo.

In Yemen, protests raise questions about stability of that nation’s leadership.

In Sudan, nearly everyone in the Christian South voted to separate from the Muslim North, which might bring about a new country and bring an end to years of bloody conflict. Meanwhile, violence in the Darfur region continues unabated.

In Tunisia, a high profile Islamist opposition leader who had been exiled by the overthrown dictator returned to the country.

A post-election crisis in the Ivory Coast continues as West African neighbors debate what to do.

In Nigeria, a Taliban-like sect is suspected of killing the governor of a state.

In the face of this, I think the faithful prayer is the one we pray every Sunday. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.”

As we are able, we Christians should do good to all people and resist all evil it is in our power to resist. Most of what is happening in Egypt is beyond our personal reach for good or ill. Nothing is beyond the reach of our prayers.

That may not be a sufficient response for the blogger who got me thinking about these issues, but it is the most Christian response I can see.

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