Peace in the Middle East

Its a phrase my kids used to say when leaving the house. It was meant to be ironic, or cool, or random or something. Later they shortened it to "peace out." I never resonated with either. 

And now I am going there. I've been advised not to divulge publicly the countries in the Middle East to which I am headed. Better to not draw attention to the event there, endangering the Christian leaders I'll be with.  I will attend an event designed to help western Christians listen to Arab Christians who are struggling to maintain both their witness and frankly their literal presence in the shadow of Islam. Then from there I will fly to Turkey to help lead a Bakke class from Istanbul to Bucharest, looking at ancient Christian traditions that have survived through centuries of conquest, oppression and fragmentation to a place of quiet influence in the Arab world.

Listening to Eastern Christians? Studying ancient traditions? What does this have to do with Urban Ministry? Byzantium (Istanbul) was regarded as the New Jerusalem on earth and has shaped more of our historic and modern faith than most can imagine. The great Schism dividing the eastern and western churches began there. Monasticism began in its shadow, inspiring other forms that spread around the world. Literacy was saved by these movements during the dark ages, and our best spiritual writers come from these roots. The earliest urban ministers, Catholics like Dorothy Day and Protestants like Luther and Calvin, took their cue from the early Eastern saints that labored in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria, impacting not only individuals in need but also city systems.

Africans have a word that gets at why this trip is important. "Sankofa" -- it means looking backward in order to look ahead. What was learned in the womb of the ME through the first centuries of the church's history will certainly inform how kingdom people move ahead in the context of political Islam. It is naive to live without regard for the rest of the world, as if we were not interconnected in a thousand ways. We need to understand that crucial region. What is happening in the ME affects us here. If we are to avoid the cynicism of those who do not believe in a God powerful enough to bring peace, we need to go and taste, reflect on site, build relationships and make connections. And we need to convey hope to those who are there. They are not alone.

Please pray for the trip. 

Peace in the Middle East

Randy