Profile of Asma Assad, wife of the Syrian president

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17487721

Syria: Massive explosion in Hama 'kills 70'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17851122

His most precious peace will never leave us...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JtGRRwFI6pw

please watch this video which shows the inside of a church that has been destroyed in the fighting in Homs.  I have friends whose parents went to this church, they grew up and married in this church and it carries many dear memories for them. 

for those of you who go to church on Sundays and gather in the church on other days of the week for choir practice and Bible studies, youth groups, service...take a moment and imagine walking into your church and finding this...

as we go about our lives let us remember the Christians in Syria and Iraq and the Middle East, continue in your prayers for them, for their protection, for humanitarian aid to reach them, for an end to the fighting…

let us be thankful that we, in the west, can go to church and feel that it is a safe place, let us not make our churches unsafe by gossiping about others and fighting over trivial matters, let us honor the holy space with hymns, prayer, gentleness and welcome to all who desire to come closer to the peace of our Lord...

all around the world, people are fighting, killing, destroying...God, please make me an instrument of your peace...let every word that comes out of my mouth be gentle and humble and to the purpose of increasing your kingdom…

for how can I ask you to bring peace to Syria if I can't even speak peacefully?  If I don’t even have peace in my heart, in my family, in my work place?  As long as husband and wife, brother and sister, father and daughter, cousins, friends, church members, colleagues and teammates fight, gossip and hurt one another…how can we expect enemies, competitors, political parties and countries to forgive, make peace and join in the glory of God’s kingdom? 

I always hope that if you are able, you will donate some money to an organization that you trust to help the Christians in the Middle East and I ask also that you never cease in prayer.  But today, it is on my heart to ask something further…

“ If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”   -1 John 4:20

it is my opinion that this earth will not know peace until we have the peace of Jesus Christ in our hearts and that peace and love overwhelms everything else in our human nature…peace doesn’t just happen because political leaders sign a document or draw new borders or pay reparations…peace begins in the heart of a human being and flows out into a relationship, a family, a community, a church, a country, the world…

“Finally, brothers, rejoice.  Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”    -2 Corinthians 13:11

peace is bigger than all of us but it begins within our small hearts and in small ways…I ask that you think and pray about this…after sending money and praying, how can we also be giving of our hearts which are the truest and most valuable building blocks of peace?…how can we then, each of us, contribute to a dimming hymn of peace in our world…who can you forgive?  Who can you love more?  Who can you reach out to?  What can you give? 

as my friend from this church has so wisely pointed out to me, if you observe the above video closely, you will notice that beneath the rubble, the Bibles and hymnals are still in their places…and for me it is the ever present reminder that Jesus promised us peace, but not peace as the world understands it, for He warns that there will be persecutions and troubled times…He promises us, only and beautifully, the peace of knowing Him and being loved by Him…and despite the condition of our countries and even our churches, as long as we are willing to go back and pick up those Bibles and hymnals...to read God’s word and sing to Him, to tightly clasp our hands together and hold that space in our hearts and in our world for God without compromise…He and His most precious peace will never leave us…

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” 

–John 14:27

 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  

-John 16:33

 

The Our Lady Dispensary distributes Easter coloring books and crayons to Iraqi children

Busy days...

The days have been busy and I have been running around a lot between all the different offices and, on top of that, to my grandparents!  Monday and Tuesday of this week I sat in to take the minutes for the Middle East Council of Churches'(MECC) partners meeting.  The experience was very interesting and educational for me.  I have the chance to witness a period of great change and renewal in the MECC, to watch and participate in small ways as an organization tries to change its stucture and rebuild relationships with its partners.  Through the meetings and presentations I get to listen to the stories and opinions of those who are working on the ground in Syria and Egypt and southern Lebanon.  And to watch as western partners ask questions about what the priorities should be, how the development work relates to Christian witness in the Middle East and...so many interesting things.  To observe what is easy and what is hard for the eastern and western Christians to understand about each other, especially when one is donating money to the other. 

Coming up in Lebanon, we have two big holidays, Easter, and then again, Easter!!!  This coming Sunday will be Protestant Easter and on the following Sunday I will celebrate the Orthodox Easter with the Syrian Orthodox Church.  I remember when I was a student in Lebanon, I felt that I was never going to school because there was always a holiday.  It is because Lebanon has so many different religious factions and attempts to somehow accomodate them all.  So at my university we had the days off for Christian and Muslim holidays as well as special Armenian holidays because it was an Armenian university.  In addition, we had Christmas break for Dec 25 and again Christmas break for the Armenian Christmas which is celebrated on Jan 7.  Now, lucky me, I have two 4-day weekends coming up!