(Cross-posted on Street Prophets and Daily Kos)
In a special issue of Sojomail, Christian Peacemaker Teams co-director Doug Pritchard describes how a CPT Iraq team member kept vigil besides Tom Fox’s body on the Anaconda base.
(read an excerpt below the break)
Pyles was present on the tarmac at Anaconda as Tom’s coffin was loaded onto the plane for Dover. … On this plane, right beside Tom’s coffin, was the coffin of an Iraqi detainee. So Tom accompanied an Iraqi detainee in death, just as he had done so often in life.
At Tom’s departure, Pyles read out from the gospel of John, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it” (1:5). In honour of Tom’s Iraqi companion, she spoke the words called out repeatedly from the mosques of Baghdad during the Shock and Awe bombing campaign in March 2003, “allah akhbar” (God is greater). She concluded the sending with words from the Jewish scriptures, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).
Dawn broke. The contingent of Puerto Rican soldiers nearby saluted. The plane taxied away. Venus, the morning star, shone brightly overhead as the night faded away. Godspeed you, Tom, on your final journey home to your family and friends.
The plane carrying Tom Fox’s body is currently en route to Dover AFB, scheduled to arrive at 1 a.m. EST on Wednesday, March 14. CPT members are keeping vigil at Dover as I write this.
Please join me in keeping vigil in your hearts as Tom Fox’s remains are brought home, to his grieving family, his faith community, and his nation. I am lighting a candle on my dining table now, and will keep it burning late into the night. As work and family obligations permit, I will sit in silent worship in honor of the life and work of Tom Fox and in prayer for his colleagues still held captive, their captors, and everyone else suffering from the war he sought to end.