Middle East Trip: Day 8 Part 1

Day 8: Rich Blessings (Fri, August 27) Part 1

Friday morning began after a good night’s sleep; I woke earlier than just about anyone and took a short walk around the monastery, visiting the well-tended graveyard/gardens and enjoying the morning. My mind and senses have been so overwhelmed by a week in Syria. In Damascus, even early in the morning, it is already warm and everyone just oozes a slow sweat. I have been constantly thirsty for a week in spite of constantly drinking for 1.5 l water bottles which cost only about 50 cents. By the time I get home I will have lost 5 pounds and all of it is due to water loss. Either the food or the spices or some unknown bacteria has been tampering with my GI tract but this morning my stomach feels more settled and everything is under control. Poor Luanne is quite ill and would end up spending the day in bed. The population density is so different than Arkansas, and you see nothing but small shops, be it a car mechanic or clothes or food or you name it. I have seen nothing remotely resembling a big box store. Some of the shops, like in the open market, are quite small, probably only ten by ten. I find it unimaginable working all day in such a small space, and then probably going home to an apartment crowded with your family. What would you do if you just wanted to get away from people for a while? I have seen nothing resembling a park. I guess there is some solitude in the mosques. I guess you could walk out into the desert. People growing up there probably have no other frame of reference and do not even give it any thought.

At breakfast a pastor from Kuwait City shared some stories of how various denominational leaders had been gathering together to study the Bible. Quite encouraging. He shared how they introduce the Bible to Muslim, talking about themes, like the need for blood for cleansing from sin, that thread through the Bible even though written by at least 39 different authors in three different languages. At ten o’clock V and H showed up with H and his brother to take us on a day’s tour. We grab a couple of cabs out front of the monastery to go to the larger cab/bus area in the heart of the Christian quarter where we hire Mohammed for the day, a Muslim who is fasting for Ramadan but drives a mini-bus for a Christian cab company. We drive north out of Damascus, into the countryside, past a prison and up to Sednaya, a predominantly Christian area in the mountains closer to the Lebanese border.

Our first stop in Sednaya s the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Sednaya on the highest point in town, founded by the Byzantine emperor Justine on the sight of an appearance of Mary, the mother of Jesus. In the Sacristy of the Church is purportedly an original painting by Luke of Mary and the infant Jesus, one of four painting the gospel writer is reported to have painted. V translates as we are given a tour of the sanctuary and as we are leaving by way of the baptistery, we come upon a family who are having their six month old baby, Jamie, christened. The family invites us to witness and we gather and watch the priest baptizing little Jamie and then the family even invited some of women to participate towards the end. This was an amazing moment that seemed so right in that culture and we feel so privileged to have been allowed to be part of it.

We visited another church in the town, visited a couple of shops (including a candy shop, or course) and then went outside the town of visit St Elias Shrine, where tradition says Elijah was taken up to heaven. I have to confess I still possess a cynical streak that God has yet to completely root out and I am fearful at times we were somewhat disrespectful of our Christian brothers and their respect for tradition. Fortunately love covers a multitude of sins and we headed further up into the hills to visit a monastery on the site of some caves where Christians used to hide from persecution.

On the way up to this monastery we stopped for lunch at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the valley and enjoyed a wonderful meal. I was glad my stomach felt better for I had the first fish I had eaten in Syria and it was wonderful. But better than that was the fact that Jamie and his family showed up and where now accompanied by extended family from around the area, including Lebanon. They brought Jamie to our table, even gave the women some decorations off the christening cake, and a bit later traditional music was accompanied by dancing and many of our team joined in after getting quick lessons on the fundamental dance moves. It was truly a magical time.

We spend the rest of the afternoon at the monastery, enjoying the cooler breezes in the higher mountains, and saw a few small clouds along the peaks just west of us at the Lebanese border. They were the first clouds we had seen since arriving in Syria a week before We took many group photos as we knew this was probably one of the last times we would be together with our new brothers in Christ.. About six we loaded up the mini-van and headed back down the hill, asking Mohammed to try and get us to St Ananias’ house in Damascus by seven.