The Blind Lead the Blind Just Fine

They just need a little supervision...

Her Hope

We all know

how it feels

to be left.

To presume someone’s support

and then be struck by its absence:

the soul on earth suffers no greater darkness. 

But her body does.

Her body knows

how it feels 

to be left

alone. 

Not just without a friend,

but without people

or things,

except the chair 

to which she is strapped.

This is darkness.

A brief brush on her cheek 

comes suddenly, then leaves.

She reaches, gropes 

for the stunning glimpse of light

that has gone

Where? Our question, not hers.

It seems that our senses give birth to the imagination,

which gives birth to the inquiry,

in which hope inheres.

Our hope, not hers. 

The hand is not.

The light is not.

It was, and now it is not.

This is what it means 

to be left alone. 

But 

this 

is not 

the end.

I have witnessed laughter

with no observable cause.

Beams of light

sporadically emerge

from within her darkness

and strike me

again and 

again.

While creation is groaning,

this little girl grins. 

Why? Our question, not hers. 

Perhaps our senses bore the imagination,

which bears far too many inquiries. 

We see through a mirror dimly,

look only at ourselves, 

and know nothing of silence divine.

She sees through something unseen,

looks at something beyond,
listens to God in the silence,

and smiles.

See and hear, sisters and brothers!

Souls will not be left and

bodies will not be alone and

souls bodies embracing Light,

these glories will always be,

and her body is 

and her body does

as a part of His:

her hope

and ours. 

Playing Father

This is Motassem, a beautiful Arab boy with bright blue eyes.

Every Tuesday night, our school hosts prayer meetings. On average, thirty people attend, half of whom are students. Last Tuesday, at 10 PM, as the thirty of us were leaving the building, a 13-year-old boy named Mohammed gave me a huge hug and joked, “Carry me! Carry me!” I laughed and signed, “You’re too old, and I’m too weak.”

A few seconds later, Motassem tugs on my sleeve. 

I turn to face him, and he signs, “I’m only ten.”

His hands are neither timid nor pestering. Now, as always, he exhibits a quiet confidence that suggests maturity beyond his years. 

Only a brute could have refused the implicit request. 

I scoop him up in my arms, and he clings to my body. We slowly make our way to the boys’ boarding house, around forty yards and forty stair-steps away. Besides a few short giggles, he is silent and still. 

What kind of ten-year-old boy finds comfort in being carried?

The kind of ten-year-old boy who didn’t find it when he was five.

The kind who is old enough to know that his father has failed, but still young enough to delight in pretending.

The kind who approaches me the next morning and asks, “Are you going to the prayer meeting on Thursday night?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Will you carry me to the boarding house afterwards?”

Country Profiles

JORDAN

Today, approximately 5% of Jordan’s population (around 6.5 million) identifies as Christian. In the mid-20th century, the figure was 30%. The Greek Orthodox church has the largest presence here, followed by the Catholic church. In addition, the Anglican church is relatively large in Jordan, at least partially because of its many development projects -- one example being the HLID!

Jordan has an admirable history of strong inter-faith relations. King Hussein (r. 1952 - 1999) occasionally attended a Christian church. King Abdullah II, the current monarch, has repeatedly stressed the importance of harmonious relations between Christians and Muslims -- and all peoples of faith (check out the “Amman Message,” or read his book). 

Also admirable is the presence of Jordanian Christians in the country’s political sphere. Nine of the 150 Parliamentary seats are reserved for Christians. Several months ago, I was privileged to attend a dinner at the house of Dr. Abu Jaber, Jordan’s former Foreign Secretary (equivalent to the US Secretary of State) under King Hussein. Dr. Abu Jaber is a Greek Orthodox believer, and he directs the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies. 

As I said in a previous post, there is still tension, still religious injustice. But there are also many signs of hope, many blessings for which we should be grateful.  

SYRIA

Approximately 10% of Syria’s population (around 22.5 million) identifies as Christian. As in Jordan, the percentage was higher in years past. The majority of Syrian Christians are Orthodox.

Many of you are familiar with the current plight of Syrian Christians. Under the Assad regime (both the current ruler and his father), Christians enjoyed security. They are hesitant to support the opposition, as they are anxious about the unpredictability of a new regime/system. These sisters and brothers need our prayers. 

LEBANON

The most religiously diverse country in the Middle East. Approximately 20% of Lebanon’s population identifies as Maronite Christian (one of the oldest Eastern Catholic churches, if not the oldest). Another 20% identifies with other Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches. The country’s Muslim population is equally diverse. 

Lebanon’s modern history has been marked by political strife -- a Palestinian refugee crisis, Israeli occupation, civil war. It has also been marked by religious tension, intra-Islam and inter-faith. 

PALESTINE

As previously mentioned, Palestinian Christians comprise 1 or 2% of the population. Statistics will vary, but we’ll say somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000. Most of these are concentrated around Ramallah (home base for Palestine’s political leadership) and Bethlehem. Approximately 35% of Bethlehem’s population identifies as Christian.

Based on my knowledge and experience, the vast majority of Palestinian church leaders are adamant pacifists. This is certainly true of Palestine’s Evangelical leadership. 

A little-known fact: several thousand Palestinian Christians live in Gaza, one of the most miserable places on earth (two little-known facts?). 

EGYPT

The Christian Church in Egypt was established by St. Mark in the mid-1st century. Today, approximately 10% of Egypt’s population (8 million of 80 million) identifies as Christian, and most of these are Coptic Orthodox. 

Just recently, President Mohammed Mursi invited the Heads of Denominations in Egypt to an official dialogue. Thirteen bishops and pastors attended, representing the Coptic Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox, the Catholic, the Anglican, and other Protestant churches. President Mursi has hosted two such dialogues in two months’ time (which apparently hasn’t happened in thirty years). At this most recent dialogue, church leaders raised grievances about sectarian clashes and about the ignorance and deviant teachings that fuel them. Church leaders also assured the president that they pray for him regularly, and he expressed his deep appreciation for these prayers. In turn, he assured the church leaders that his Islamic faith commands him to be gracious and just with people of other faiths. (This information comes from http://www.jmeca.org.uk/great-hopes-egyptian-christians.)

You shouldn’t have to look far on the online databases of major news networks to find information about the sectarian clashes to which the church leaders refer. It’s not as bad as Iraq, but it’s pretty bad. Speaking of...

IRAQ

The Christian Church in Iraq is as old as it is in Egypt: St. Thomas launched Christian churches on his way to India. Most Iraqi Christians are Eastern rite Catholics who are ethnically Assyrians, speaking Jesus’ native language of Aramaic to this day. 

Before the war in 2003, there were approximately 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Now, I believe, the number is around half a million. I highly recommend reading this piece by my commencement speaker, a long-time Anglican vicar in Baghdad: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/canonandrewwhite/9307626/Iraq_The_most_dangerous_place_in_the_world_for_Christians/. 

These sisters and brothers (and this country!) desperately need our prayers. 

IRAN

Although the majority population isn’t Arab, but Persian, this is nevertheless a good opportunity to mention the little-known fact: there are Christians in Iran. Well over a hundred Armenian Orthodox churches, in fact. Even more surprisingly, there are Protestant churches in Iran. Three Anglican churches, including one in Tehran. The following quote is from the Jerusalem and Middle East Church Association: 

“There have been Christians in Iran since the earliest days of the Church and the indigenous Churches continue as minorities in this predominantly Muslim country. The Anglican presence arose out of missionary work by the Church Missionary Society and there is a small Church which looks to the Bishop for spiritual leadership. The diocesan institutions - schools and hospitals and work among the blind - have gone but the tiny Church persists. Members of the Church need much prayer for strength to witness to their faith and for protection from the opposition. There have been martyrs since the Revolution, and the situation can only really be described, in human terms, as unpredictable.” 

Welcome to the Church in this part of the world. 

What Kinds of Churches?

The poet is taking a break, and the theology nerd is taking his place. 

This post, like the last, is intended to introduce readers to the Arab Christian church, specifically by answering the question, “What kinds of churches?”

While there are Arab Christians throughout the Middle East who identify as Protestant and Evangelical, these are the minority. In Palestine, for example, Christians comprise a couple percentage points of the population, and self-identifying Evangelicals comprise just a couple percentage points of that.  

The vast majority of Arab believers, then, are members of either the Orthodox or the Catholic Christian traditions. Historically, both of these traditions have very deep roots here -- preceding the foundation of Protestantism, in fact. 

This isn’t the place for a lecture on non-Protestant Christianity (...which is good, because I’m not qualified to give it anyways), but I’ll do a little explaining along the way. 

Eastern Orthodoxy (often called “Greek Orthodoxy” in the Arab World) is a Christian tradition that traces its origins to the Apostles. Centuries-long arguments between the East and the West culminated in the Great Schism in the 11th century. While Eastern Orthodox believers accept the proclamations of the early church’s seven main ecumenical councils (Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon... and three others that I forget but choose not to look up), they are distinct in both belief and practice. Two examples of distinctly Orthodox beliefs, the first of which played a significant role in the schism: 1) When speaking about the Trinity, Protestants and Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and from the Son,” whereas Orthodox believers believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. 2) Orthodox believers think about justification (sinners becoming righteous) differently than most Protestants and Catholics do: theosis (deification or divinization) is the Orthodox notion that believers will eventually become a part of the divine life -- while remaining distinct from God. 

There are approximately half a million Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Arab world. The church’s Patriarchates (the highest-ranking bishops) in this region reside in Jerusalem, Damascus, Alexandria, and Istanbul. 

Now, here’s where it gets tricky: there are other “Orthodox” believers who are not “Eastern Orthodox” believers. The term “Oriental Orthodoxy” is often used to describe this category of Christianity, which includes Coptic Orthodoxy, Armenian Orthodoxy, Syriac Orthodoxy. Oriental Orthodox believers are distinguished from Eastern Orthodox believers in that they have not traditionally accepted the proclamations of the ecumenical council at Chalcedon (CE 451), which means that they do not accept the notion that Jesus has two distinct natures -- one divine, one human. Rather, they believe that Jesus was endowed with a blended constitution, if you will. 

Regardless of how exactly Oriental Orthodox believers conceive of and articulate Jesus’ nature, they get it right where it counts: the God-man Jesus offers salvation to all by atoning for the sins of the world. 

(Did I just summarize the Christian creed in a way that excludes certain Protestants? Better drop that L like it’s hot, Mr. Tulip!)

Concerning Oriental Orthodoxy on the ground, there are approximately eight million Coptic Orthodox believers, almost entirely located in Egypt. They are by far the largest Christian community in the region. In addition, there are approximately 300,000 Armenian Orthodox believers and 100,000 Syrian Orthodox believers. 

Okay, enough of Orthodoxy...what about the Catholic Church? Surprisingly, this tradition is nearly as complex as the Orthodox tradition, as there are two major tides here: Roman rite and Eastern rite. The latter comprises churches that were originally Orthodox (either Eastern or Oriental), but for historical and doctrinal reasons decided to sever that membership and affiliate with Rome while maintaining Orthodox-esque liturgies and practices. The largest church in Lebanon, the Maronite church, is one example. 

...This really isn’t the place for a lecture on Catholicism, but I’ll just briefly mention my firm conviction that I have many Catholic sisters and brothers in Christ, here and elsewhere, and I am commanded to honor that familial connection, regardless of existing disagreements. 

Two final notes:

First, there are ancient churches here that do not identify with Orthodoxy, Catholicism, or Protestantism! One example is the Assyrian Church of the East, which originated in east Syria, exists primarily in Iraq and Iran today, and is currently led by a Patriarch who lives in Chicago! This church only accepts the proclamations of the first two main ecumenical Councils (affirming that the Son is equal to and of the same substance as the Father). 

Second, regarding Protestantism in the Middle East: early 19th century missionaries from the United States and Britain are responsible for today’s Arab Protestants. Anglicans are the largest Protestant presence, probably followed by Lutherans. Historically, these western Christian movements have not been particularly welcomed -- by Muslims, Jews, or even traditional Arab churches. They are not native; they were imported. Slowly but surely, however, ecumenical cooperation and strong social justice endeavors are repairing relationships and carving out cultural space in which Arab Protestants can be at home. 

In the next post, I hope to provide country profiles regarding the Christian populations of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and other countries in the region. 

...And after that, the theology nerd will take a break for awhile. The poet gets antsy. 

Blessings.