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06425 August 23, 2006
God's grace in the midst of hostility PC(USA) mission worker visits Lebanon's war zone
by the Rev. Nuhad Tomeh PC(USA) regional liaison for Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the gulf
BEIRUT, Aug. 21 * Yesterday, being a Sunday * the day of the Lord, my colleague the Rev. Adeeb Awad, secretary of the Ecclesial and Spiritual Affairs Department in the Presbyterian Synod of Syria and Lebanon, and I traveled all the way south from Beirut to the border with Palestine.
Our purpose was to visit and check on (Acts 15.36) the Presbyterian congregations in parts of the southern Lebanon, in the disaster area. Usually it takes a good part of the day to cover all our churches there, but this time we hardly covered two.
The Road to Alma Al-Sha'b (85 miles south) reminded us of the old movie, "Journey to the Center of the Earth." The destruction of roads, bridges, water canals and reservoirs, lands, houses, restaurants, schools, nurseries, shops, supermarkets, gas stations, trees, picnic grounds, power lines and fields all testify to the 34 days of non-stop Israeli shelling and bombardment of literally EVERYTHING.
We had to drive 95 percent off the road to reach Alma, unconsciously and unceasingly repeating the question: Why? Why? Why?
Only God knows the real answer.
We had to drive over roads and through towns that reminded us of the pictures that are unconsciously stored in our memories of Stalingrad and Berlin at the end of Word War II, with a gloomy atmosphere contaminated with the smell of dead civilians still under the ruins of their houses.
Alma is a town of 1,200 Lebanese Christians, among them some 60 Presbyterian families * men, women, and children. Alma is a very meek and peaceful little town with strong Presbyterian heritage and witness for more than 160 years.
Citizens of Alma clung fast to their homes and lands at the beginning of the hostilities. Then, when Israeli planes, artillery and tanks started targeting their homes, they ran to the three churches in town (Catholic, Maronite, Presbyterian), reckoning that churches are safe havens against the evil of humankind.
They are supposed to be.
But very soon the Catholic Church was targeted with a rocket from an Israeli plane. After that, 90 percent of Alma's population decided to leave in two convoys of about 100 cars each to * anywhere.
One convoy ventured the coastal road via Tyre; the other headed northeast to the Beqa' Valley. They had sent many SOSs to the U.N. headquarters in Naqoura (only 1.5 miles south of Alma) that were completely unheeded. No church building, no U.N., no superpower could guarantee their safety. They relied on the mercy of God.
After horrific journeys of seven or eight hours, they arrived at * somewhere: dispersed all over towns and cities, some staying with friends or relatives, others in rented rooms or in "foyers," having only the clothes they had on.
Adeeb has constantly attempted to follow up on where they are and how they are doing.
We finally arrived in Alma, half a mile from the Israeli border. As we drew near, we couldn't overcome the cold shivers in our limbs and joints upon seeing the Israeli tanks and surveillance posts tracking our car through hills, fields and curves. Fighter planes were roaring above all over the place, announcing the presence of their fearsome might to all here under.
We headed directly to the house of the mayor of Alma, a Presbyterian who is a very decent and respected man in his 60s. There were many burnt and destroyed houses. We waded through all kinds of spent detonators, bomb fragments and rocket casings that had rained down on that peaceful town.
The mayor, Jamil, and his sweet wife, were busy cleaning up around the house that was full of shrapnel and blown earth and black smoke. A tank projectile hit the front yard, just in front of the door, and drove its way all under the house into the back yard without exploding.
Word is that these are programmed not to explode until something hits them, such as a tractor or anything else that might come in contact with it. Similar strikes happened in other areas and killed many civilians.
Fayez, Jamal's brother, and two of his sons and their wives watched the destruction of their houses and wondered why? We spoke with a neighbor, Boutros, who lost his house completely. So did his father.
Asked why anybody would target their houses, they answered, "Soldiers were sitting in their tanks doing nothing. Every now and then they would pick a house, target it ... and there goes that house into a heap of chaos."
We spent a little time in prayer and meditation with them, remembering it was the day of the Lord, our mighty God and Father. It was like cold water in the fiery desert to them.
Next we visited two brothers Kareem and Ass'ad and their families. Their houses were damaged but not completely destroyed. They showed us where they spent their time hiding, squeezed into some corner behind the house, falsely encouraging themselves that being together would protect them.
They believe that God saved them, and is able to always. With them, too, we had a wonderful time of worship and fellowship with them and our great and gracious Savior. We recalled the experience of the Evangelical congregation of Berlin and their wonderful pastor, Helmut Thelicke, who also in the midst of destruction and hatred more than 60 years ago witnessed joyfully to their Christian faith.
We inspected the sight of "once" house of Elder Ziyad, now a heap of destruction. We prayed there and then continued inspecting several other sights of the fruits of the flesh: about 70 houses destroyed.
Our sympathy with our congregation in Alma is indescribable. But their faith and determination to live their faith in their Lord * to foe and friend alike * is much more indescribable. That's the Presbyterian spirit.
On our way back we visited Qana, another loud testimony to the evil of humankind. Volumes could be written on what happened there * a story that the tens of international news agencies and reporters we met there have already begun telling.
We found ourselves, unconsciously, bowing down in front of the sight where 62 women and children were killed in a shelter as an Israeli "smart bomb" glided down right into where they sought safety.
We prayed first for the stone hearts that triggered the will to kill and destroy; for the afflicted families; for the Church to have courage and the mind of Christ to bring peace, justice and the Gospel to all.
A French television team wondered what two Christian clergy would be doing in a 100 percent Muslim environment, so they approached us with their astonishment. It was a time to witness to our Presbyterian heritage and upbringing. We told them: "We are here to proclaim our faith in the One God, Father of all, and to demonstrate our solidarity with our Moslem sisters and brothers."
We gathered together with the French reporters and others in front of the newly paved cemetery for the 62 killed here, 31 of them young children.
We all bowed down in reverence as we prayed the Lord's Prayer. The Muslims among us were comforted and thanked us for this gesture.
The foreign reporters and photographers were amazed, as they couldn't comprehend the spectacle. One of them said, "I'm unable to express myself."
We managed to pass by the Presbyterian Church in Tyre, the scene of a lot of destruction. George, the young Pastor was, with a group of young people, in the midst of the impossible job of clean-up.
We didn't have time to stay any longer. Darkness was spreading its garment and creeping in, so we had to hit the trail back, hoping to meet you with more news of our visits to the other churches in the south and the rest of Lebanon.
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