I had only heard a little bit about Andrew White when I first met him. I work, as some of you will know, as a chaplain at Emily’s House, a children’s hospice in Toronto. Andrew, as it would happen, knows Emily’s family well so when he was in Toronto in the winter of 2012/2013 during the construction of Emily’s House he came and visited with us and prayed a blessing over the place.
My first impression of Andrew was that he was a towering yet gentle man with a rare warmth and generosity to him. And boy, was his laugh contagious. At any rate, Andrew goes by another name that makes him of particular interest to me and perhaps to you as well.
The Rev. Canon Andrew White, also known as The Vicar of Baghdad. You see, Andrew is a priest and the vicar of St. George’s Church, Baghdad, the only Anglican church in Iraq. The love that Andrew has for the church there is compelling — “my people,” he calls them; “Aboona” (Father), they call him. The plight of our brothers and sisters in Iraq is striking. Just this week Andrew posted the following on his Facebook page:
“ISIS have told the Christians they have a choice: They convert to Islam and pay the jazzier tax or have their heads chopped off. Today in Church the people said that they will never leave their Yesua (Aramaic for Jesus), they said when you have lost everything Jesus is all you have left and he is every thing. So this is the situation we are in we have no idea what will happen tomorrow but we know that our Lord will be with us.”
As President of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East Andrew has been involved in countless peace talks especially between Shia and Sunni Muslim leaders. Not only has Andrew been involved in hostage negotiations but he himself along with his staff have had their lives threatened, been hijacked, kidnapped, and held at gunpoint.
Earlier this year Andrew was the recipient of the 2014 William Wilberforce Award, “for his extraordinary strides in reconciliation and restoration in the face of overwhelming challenges.” During a Q&A when he was presented with the award he recalled baptizing something like 14 new Christians one day at St. George’s Church. The next day 11 of them, I think it was, were killed for their new found trust in Jesus. Let that sink in.
Oh, and at the age of 33 he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
I could go on, but I would encourage you to look him up online and to keep him and the people of St. George’s in your daily prayers.
The magazine Vice recently did a documentary about him and his work in Baghdad which I have posted below in three parts. Let us pray for our brother Andrew and “his people”:
O Lord God,
your Son Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who lays his life down for his sheep.
We pray for your servant Andrew,
that he might follow in the way of your suffering love for those you have entrusted to him.
Comfort, we pray, the people of St. George’s and all victims of persecution.
Remember in your kingdom those who have died.
We pray too for those who would violently oppress their fellow humans,
that you might free them for love and compassion.
Give hope to the suffering.
Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
