Christian villages try to revive ancient Biblical language

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/christian-villages-attempt-to-revive-ancient-biblical-language-1.432932

Dispensary takes elderly women to holy site...

On May 22, 2012, the Dispensary hosted a trip, free of charge, for the elderly women living in the neighborhood, many of whom are poor and live alone.  The outing was an opportunity for the ladies to meet each other, visit the holy site "Harisa" and go to a famous Lebanese restaurant for lunch.  The ladies were very excited.  


Harisa is a holy site in Lebanon which sits at the top of a mountain and honors the Virgin Mary.  Our Lady of Lebanon Sanctuary belongs to the Maronite Patriarchate who entrusted its administration to the Congregation of Lebanese Maronite Missionaries since its foundation in 1904. As this Sanctuary is considered to be the ultimate place for honoring the Virgin Mary by both Christians and Muslims, its guardians host regular workshops to promote Lebanese internal reconciliation and nurture communication among all communities, thus strengthening concepts of acceptance of others, appreciation of diversity, and community life. From its location in Daroun-Harissa, Our Lady of Lebanon Sanctuary also aims at insuring the social development of surrounding communities and villages.

Psalm 26

"Test me, O Lord, and try me,

examine my heart and my mind;

for your love is ever before me,

    and I walk continually in your truth."

Our Lady Dispensary Spring Activities for Children

In April and May, the Dispensary received a special budget to organize some activities for poor children living and attending schools in the Sad al Bouchrieh neighborhood.  The Dispensary was able to to offer the opportunity to around 50 children to enjoy some days of fun.  The first day was at an outdoor amusement park called "Zagazoo" where they got to play and enjoy a snack together.  The second outing was to McDonald's which is not like the McDonald's in the U.S.  In Lebanon, McDonald's is kind of fancy...we took the kids for lunch and they got to play in the "playplace" and there was even a McDonald's staff member who did face painting for them and gave everyone balloons.  The kids had a great time.  The third activity that the Dispensary organized was a dental campaign in the Assyrian school in the neighborhood.  The children in the school come mostly from Syrian, Assyrian or Iraqi families.  We had a dentist come to the school and give the children a presentation about how to take care of their teeth and the children asked many questions.  After the presentation, we distributed toothbrushes and toothpaste which were donated by Colgate to all the students in the school.  We are still planning many activities for children and women over the summer, both recreational and educational.

A Visit to a Monastery and a Mosque

This past weekend I had the chance to participate in a unique program that is part of one of the organizations that I work for, The Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue (FDCD).  One of FDCD’s focuses is on peace building and conflict resolution in the context of Lebanon where, historically, there has been much tension between Muslims and Christians.  FDCD develops programs that bring young people with different religious backgrounds together to work towards building peace and spreading consciousness throughout the society.  

The program that I got to participate in this weekend brings together Muslims and Christians who are studying theology.  This weekend, we went to visit a few mosques and have a walking tour in Tripoli and we hiked in the Kadisha Valley to a monastery and visited a Maronite Church and a Greek Orthodox Church.  Everyone participated in all the activities, the Christians entered the Mosques and the Muslims entered the churches.  We learned about the history of the buildings and people could pray as they desired.   I was comfortable to enter the mosques as a learning experience, to see the building, to hear the guide tell about the history of the area, and learn more about the faith of my Muslim friends.  However, I found that I was not comfortable with anything beyond that.  

For example, as a Christian, I did not feel comfortable being inside the mosque while others were there engaging in one of the 5 daily prayers and I was not comfortable being inside the mosque during the call to worship.  I have thought about it a lot and I think that it is simply because the Bible says that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life, so I felt that I was betraying that by participating in a form of worship that speaks of Muhammed as the true prophet.  I am sure that a part of my Christian faith is to try to love all and I believe it is appropriate for me to have Muslim friends and to learn about Islam and that we must  all work together to build a better society in Lebanon and the world.  I believe we should all love and work together for peace but I have strict boundaries that I will not compromise.  

As I stood inside the mosque and then the call to worship began, I started to feel very uncomfortable. I felt that it was not pleasing to my God that I be present there as this was happening and something was being said that goes against what I believe in.  So I just quietly went outside during that time and it was okay.  Though such an experience can be uncomfortable, I am thankful for it because I feel that it pushes me forward in my own relationship with God, I feel more convicted in my own faith and I learn how to be respectful to others without being shy to say what I believe as well and stand firmly in it.

Another general reflection that I have after this weekend is that it was really a very rich and close experience to be able to do things like hiking, touring and sharing meals together rather than sitting in a conference room and telling each other about our religions.  In this way we could become friends and develop a relationship and a shared memory together rather than simply giving each other presentations.  It is much more meaningful and constructive when the ultimate goal is to build peace in the society because both violence and peace occur among the people in the society, not in the conference room.