A Lesson From Evin

In an amazing, even miraculous turnabout, yesterday, March 22, Secretary of State John Kerry issued a strong statement calling on Iran to release Saeed Abedini.  After months of silence the US government has finally raised its official voice to advocate for one of our own.

“The best outcome for Mr. Abedini is that he be immediately released.”

~ US Secretary of State John Kerry

It shouldn’t have taken months of anguish, tears, petition, letter writing, interviews and Congressional testimony, but this response is proof that our voice can still be a force for good.  That to write letters, to sign petitions, to make phone calls is not an effort in futility.

I have no illusions that my recent climb down off my comfortable fence and getting involved had anything to do with the actions taken just a day later. It wasn’t me, my words or acts. While the emails were received almost instantaneously, there certainly hasn’t been time for responsive action.

The letters I dropped in the mail box had barely traveled out of Florida, much less arrived in Washington. So I know it wasn’t me.  But I do know it was “we.”  “We the people” have raised our collective voices and when that voice becomes loud enough Washington must respond.  And respond they have.

Washington has finally taken notice, but before them others have as well.  Several influential Brazilian politicians raised their voices in support of Saeed earlier this month.  Just a few days before the March 15 Congressional hearing, the “European Union demanded Iran release American Pastor Saeed at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva” in response to the dedicated petitioning by supporters.

But now is not the time to sit back and laud our efforts, to pat ourselves on the back and relax.  Iran has not responded.  This is only a step, a vital one to be sure, but a step in this undertaking that we all must follow through to the time when Saeed is released and returns to his family.

Iranian-born American pastor Saeed Abedini

In a letter to his family, Saeed writes from Evin Prison of the conditions he is in, his physical deterioration, the pain of his family's struggle and worry for his wife.  Yet even among this, he ministers to a young, brutalized and imprisoned Iranian soldier the message of forgiveness.

“When we forgive…whoever stings us, we can take into our embrace and love them.” ~ Saeed Abedini

Facebook pages, letter writing and phone calls alone will not bring him home, but they have and will continue to pressure those in power to take action that will accomplish that goal. As long as we continue to keep up the pressure, to let Washington know we are appreciative of their rhetoric but not satisfied with that alone, we can continue to influence them to move forward.

More than 547,000 have now signed the online petition to Save Saeed.  Twitter is flooded with tweets of support and pleas for Saeed.  Thousands are part of the Facebook community Pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini and others, assuredly millions more are praying at home and in their churches.

In the end we know that the effectiveness of our petitions, our letters and phone calls is limited in human terms.  But as we petition the throne of God for His grace and mercy, these earthly petitions will be empowered by our gracious God who hears the cries of His people.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterton