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The Supreme Court of the United States intends to overturn Roe v. Wade, giving back the opportunity to legislate abortion to individual states. There’s no bigger story in the news this week.

This landmark possibility gives us opportunity to consider again some of the challenging questions on which this debate hinges: When does life begin? Whose rights come first, the mom’s or baby’s? And how do we love people who answer the questions differently from us, both those who love Jesus and those who don’t?

Since this is Muslim Connect, I’m also wondering how abortion is viewed in Islam.

Like we see with Christians, Muslims think differently about abortion and each group or school or jurist thinks their view is the right one. Muslims living all over wrestle with allegiance to their faith, the forces of modernization and shifting social mores.

The closest I can find to a general understanding of Muslim thought regarding abortion is this:

1. Islam values life. 
2. The Quran doesn’t speak about abortion, but condemns the practice of burying of female babies. 
3. In a Hadith, Muhammad is recorded to have said, “Every one of you is collected in the womb of his mother for the first 40 days, and then he becomes a clot for another 40 days, and then a piece of flesh for another 40 days. Then Allah sends an angel to breathe the soul into his body.” This leads scholars to say that “ensoulment” happens 120 days after conception. While abortion before that is generally viewed as wrong, it’s much worse after. 

Given the enormity of this possible decision, we have a wonderful opportunity to talk about real stuff. Not just with our Christian sisters and brothers, but Muslims as well. Let’s keep our eyes (and hearts) open.

You can really gut someone by asking, “You know what’s wrong with you?” Especially if you’ve got a ready-made list to lay on them when they shrug in response. For fun, I’ll sometimes queue up a compliment for my wife by asking the opposite, “You know what’s right with you?” Then I’ll pick something from the rather long list of options to share with her.

Although I haven’t ever actually asked it of one, I think it’s good to ask this about Muslims. For instance, something right with my friend Issa is that he had the courage to challenge me to fast for a day during Ramadan last year. I appreciated that!

Given there are a couple billion Muslims, it’s tough to lay out too many blanket “right with you” statements that cover the whole lot. I think we can all agree with this one, though: Muslims bear the image of God.

In a beautiful, brief article called 10 Principles for Muslim-Christian Relations, Trevor Castor, the director of the Zwemer Center for Muslim Studies, says:

All Muslims, including Muhammad, are image-bearers and therefore have inherent value and the potential to reflect God’s character and glory (Gen. 1:26-28). We should consider our interactions with Muslims (or any human) as a divine encounter. Your speech and actions are an opportunity to demonstrate Christ both in and through you. We should avoid the temptation to curse any image-bearer with the same tongue that we praise whose image they bear (James 3:9). 

Castor goes on to exhort us to, “Spend more time seeking the image of God and less time seeking where the image might be distorted.”

I think Jesus was a master of this perspective. In fact, he was probably doing just this when the  Pharisees busted his chops for “eat(ing) and drink(ing) with tax collectors and sinners” at Levi’s house in Luke chapter 5.

Hank Green, of the crazy popular Vlogbrothers, put words to an experience with which I’m quite familiar. He said the nature of media and the proliferation of access in our days brings to our attention so many troubling situations. Think: Ukraine, Covid, inflation, political polarization, and the all too frequent fall of Christian leaders. Hank says we learn about these, but have very little we can do by way of response. He calls the space between knowledge and inability to fix a situation the Sad Gap. I feel it. Don’t you?

In his response video, Hank’s brother John suggests one way to survive the Sad Gap is to prioritize. I’m honored that you prioritize Muslims enough to read this. (And probably so much more.)

Laylatul Qadr, a potentially sad gap inciting event, takes place next Thursday, April 28th. This “Night of Power” is in many ways the climax of Ramadan. Read more about it here.

I feel the sad gap because so many Muslims will seek forgiveness this night, but so few have had opportunity to consider the claims of Jesus. The Night of Power also reminds me that we live in a world in which we cannot necessarily see everything that is real. Spiritual stuff, for good and ill, will go down next Thursday.

What can we do?

Fill the Night of Power sad gap:

1. Talk to Muslim friends. Ask them what they’re hoping and praying for this night. Ask them for stories they’ve heard of what happens on the Laylatul Qadr.
2. Pray for Muslims all over. Watch this short John Piper clip to remind yourself prayer matters. Ask for dreams, visions of Jesus, and kingdom welcome.
3. Download the “Night of Power Prayer Points.” Share it with your friends and church.

By God’s grace may you and I honestly assess the sad gap, receive God’s direction and power and move through it.

Something unusual happens tomorrow. As Christians around the world commemorate Good Friday, Jews begin the Passover celebration. At the same time Muslims are mid-way through their Ramadan fasting.

Maybe this is just interesting. I don’t know. It hasn’t happened in 30 years. But maybe it does call for special attention. If you live in Jerusalem, regardless of your religious affiliation, I wouldn’t blame you for being a little nervous. It’s not a big leap of logic to imagine wackos who’d like to perpetrate evil on an auspicious day.

Here’s my hope for the holy day hat trick: That God would restrain evil, release revelation and reinvigorate commitment to loving Him and loving people among all who trace their faith lineage to Abraham.

Prayer for Jews
Adonai, may the sons and daughters of Jacob, those in Israel and elsewhere find the Exodus freedom they desire. May you liberate them from sin and cycles of hatred. In the absence of worldly security, give them the shalom they seek in your loving arms.

Prayer for Christians
Father, help us, along with our sisters and brothers around the globe, to humbly recognize we’d have likely called for Jesus’s execution. Give us the faith, hope and perseverance to see his death and resurrection bringing about the reconciliation of all things. Help us to love our older and younger cousins in the way that Jesus did and does.

Prayer for Muslims
Allah, as Muslims deny themselves pleasure and devote themselves to holiness, please meet them and answer their prayers. Keep zeal from morphing into violence. Enable many to honestly consider the claims of Christ and in doing so find the abundant life he came to bring.

Jesus endorsed prayer when he said, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.” He modeled action when he touched a leper, dined with baddies, and exorcised a demon from a foreigner’s kid.

Both praying and doing are part of our normal life with Jesus.

Sometimes it’s easier to pray. At a distance. On a comfortable couch. In his fascinating and often overlooked book on prayer, Letters to Malcom, C.S. Lewis asserts, “It is much easier to pray for a bore than to go visit him.” Isn’t that the truth?

I just finished the challenging book, “Same Kind of Different As Me.” I can’t vouch for the movie yet, but the book pushed me to complement prayer with actually doing something for homeless people in my town.

Maybe you want to add action to your prayers for Muslims, particularly so during Ramadan, particularly for upwards of a hundred thousand Afghans spending their first Ramadan in the U.S. I know I do.

Here’s a simple, beautiful idea that landed in my email box this morning from Fouad Masri at Crescent Project: Ramadan Blessing Kits. You put a simple list of Ramadan related items, including a Gospel of John you can get for free from Crescent Project, in a bag or box and deliver it to your Muslim friend.

They also provide a winsome, printable note you can sign and include. I love this!

If you’re pretty sure you don’t have anyone to give something like that to, you can join me in sending some money to Crescent Project to help them send the Gospel of John free of charge.

Either way, may God bless and multiply this effort in such a way that leads to more abundant life for many Afghans, other Muslims and you and me.

Muslim Dad: Hey Kids, good news, this year we’re going to do all the fun things that go with Ramadan like get together with family, eat special food at night and give presents at the end, but we’re not going to fast!
Kids: Are you serious? Yay! That’s so great! You’re the best.
Muslim Dad: April fools!
Kids: Grrrrr

Pray Large and Small
Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, begins the evening of April 1st and runs through April 30th. As you probably know, this is a time of heightened spiritual sensitivity for Muslims. If you’ve ever fasted, quit smoking or drinking coffee you probably understand it’s also a time of strained emotions.

With that in mind, please join me in praying against violence on both a large and small stage. Specifically, let’s ask God to help men be kind to their wives and kids during this time. Let’s also pray for Israel. They’ve suffered three terrorist attacks in just over a week. Ask God for protection for Jewish citizens, but also wisdom and discretion for the Israeli government as they respond.

Join In
While Ramadan is mainly about going without, it’s also about celebrating. Once the sun sets, many Muslims take time to enjoy family and special foods. My friend Jeannie has written a winsome challenge to get yourself invited over for one these meals. (Be careful, it also involves fasting!)

Cook Up Some Connection
One way my family is planning to remember Muslims during this Ramadan is by cooking and enjoying a meal together once a week that will remind us of a particular Muslim people or place. Please grab our food plan and let me know if you give it a go.

Let’s ask God to incline our hearts toward Muslims as they seek him this special month. Let’s also keep our eyes open for ways to share this perspective with other believers.

There’s a new Greg Livingstone conversation video up. Please check out Greg’s gracious thoughts on church planting teams.

I learned to love shawarma served by a kind, long-suffering Egyptian immigrant in Jordan. I’m grateful for the time he stood under the summer sun in front of his piping hot grill.

Later my dad learned to love mie goreng cooked up by a road side restauranteur in southern Malaysia. After our whirlwind trip to meet Muslims and enjoy their food, he thought it would it would be nice if my mom would make mie goreng back in Indiana! Being several years before the world wide web was a thing, she was the long-suffering one, trying to match real ingredients to Dad’s culinary memory.

Food links us to people and places, doesn’t it? As Ramadan begins on April 2nd, I want to invite you to link your heart, mind and tummy with Muslims locally and around the world.

Although Ramadan is a fasting month for Muslims, as you may know, they only abstain during the day. Night time is for family, fun and often feasting.

So here’s the idea: Once each week through April, enjoy a meal with family and friends that reminds you of a particular Muslim nation or people group. Take time around the meal to pray for that people.

Here are the ones I envision for our house:

Week One:  Doner Iskender, originating in Turkey

Week Two:  Domada, from Gambia

Week Three:  Balti Curry (Made famous in Bradford, England, originating in Pakistan and North India)

Week Four:  Mie Goreng (Originating in Malaysia, and reminding us of my dad!)

To identify with the self-denial of Ramadan, maybe fast the meal prior to the special reminder one.

Let me know if you plan to do this and what food you’ll serve. My mouth is watering already!

How does it make you feel to read that Saudi Arabia executed 81 people last Saturday?

Sick to your stomach?
Sad for the state of humanity?
Desperate for the kingdom of God?
Concerned for their eternal destiny?

Do you wonder who they were and what they’d done?
Whether or not their trials were fair? If their confessions only came from torture?
Maybe you shake your head and think, “Those Muslim barbarians!”
Or, “They probably got what they deserved.”

Maybe you wonder like me, “Why kill them all on the same day?” I suppose the answer to that is to make a point. “See this? See what we can do? Don’t cross us.”

I question if this situation differs only in quantity, but not in principle, from the eleven people executed in the US last year or the 17 the year before?

I also wonder how many Christians will use this mass execution as an additional data point in their decision to despise Muslims. And what might we do to help them think otherwise?

Finally, in this situation, as often happens, innocent people will pay a great price for the policies of the powerful: Since many of the men executed were Shia Muslims, Iran (Team Shia) canceled ongoing talks with Saudi Arabia (Team Sunni) regarding maybe easing up their proxy battle in Yemen (still the soccer ball).

God have mercy on these countries and their people, the good, the bad and the desperate. And you and me, too.

Have you ever had a hero crash and burn, ditch their wife, kick the dog? It’s a gut punch, isn’t it? Many years ago, Bobby Clinton seared this onto my psyche: “Very few leaders finish well.” They either plateau or flame out in pursuit of power, cash or sex. Although at 28 years old there was no way I could imagine personally “finishing” well, I knew I wanted to.

While that’s still to be determined, God has kindly allowed me to connect with one of my heroes who is finishing well.

I met Greg Livingstone, the founder of Frontiers, when I was fresh out of college, reconnected with him during the most trying time in my life and just recently began a fascinating project with him.

We’re recording a series of brief conversations in which I ask Greg things I’d like to know about his life, work, thinking and walk with Jesus.

This project is powered by sheer fun, as well as this two fold purpose: 1. To preserve some of the cool things Greg thinks and has done in his life. 2. Give him a chance at 82 years old to unleash his recruiting chops on a new generation of people.

I would flat out love for you to give these a look. You can find them here. Greg and I are clearly not amazing YouTubers! (even with my friend Jeremy’s great editing help) But with GK Chesterton whispering in our ear, “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly,” we’re giving it a go. Any advice or help you’d like to offer in terms of content, production and distribution would be met with gratitude. And we’ll put it into action.  We plan to release new videos every week or so.

Please check them out and, if you don’t mind, pass them on to others who might appreciate seeing Greg’s face and hearing a little Livingstone wisdom. 

The 50-60,000 Afghan refugees currently spreading out across the U.S. will face a new issue in a couple of weeks: How to celebrate Nowruz, the wildly popular Persian New Year, in a new land. It happens on Sunday, March 20th this year.

Since I’m often on the hunt for a celebration, this challenge resonates with me. If it does you as well, join me in one or more of these three things I’m planning to do:

Get a Goldfish
Having secured permission from my long-suffering wife, I plan to grab a couple goldfish this week along with a suitable bowl and food. Goldfish are part of the traditional Nowruz display called haft-seen. For Nowruz, they symbolize life. For us they’ll serve as reminders to pray for Muslims. You’re welcome to share our fishies’ names too: Farsi and Dari! (Plastic goldfish work too!)

Gift a Goldfish
As part of a broader effort to host a Nowruz party for some local Afghan refugees, I’m going to offer to buy goldfish for some families. This gets into potential cultural quagmire: Maybe they don’t want a goldfish! But maybe they think it would be offensive to say no. Maybe it would feel bad if they got a goldfish, but others didn’t. I’m going to ask people closer to the situation to scout this out.

GIF a Goldfish
OK, not actually a gif, but on Sunday I plan to show this slide to encourage my church to pray for Afghans around Nowruz. This is a golden opportunity to provide a timely and hopeful prayer invitation. I’ll also include a link to this prayer guide. (If you have a better one, please let me know.)