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This story located at: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2007/07043.htm
07043 January 19, 2007
PC(USA) delegation shares thoughts, concerns from the Middle East
by Toya Richards Hill
LOUISVILLE * Sharing joys, concerns, hopes and prayers was the focus of a letter sent Friday by the members of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegation currently in the Middle East.
General Assembly Council (GAC) Chair the Rev. Allison Seed, General Assembly Stated Clerk the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick and GAC Executive Director Linda Bryant Valentine are visiting Lebanon, Israel and Palestine in an effort to show their continued support for the region's Christians and to get a first-hand look at the area's dynamics.
They also are joined by the Rev. Victor Makari, coordinator for the PC(USA)'s Middle East Office and the Jinishian Memorial Program; and Sara Lisherness, director of the PC(USA)'s Peace and Justice program area.
The following is the text of the delegation's letter:
Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk, Linda Valentine, Executive Director, and Allison Seed, Chair of the General Assembly Council, joined by Sara Lisherness, Director of Peace and Justice, and Victor Makari, Coordinator for the Middle East Office and Jinishian Memorial Program, bring greetings to you from Beirut. We are on a trip of solidarity, listening and conversation with our brothers and sisters in Lebanon and Israel/Palestine. We share with you the joys and concerns of our hearts from the first leg of this journey, Beirut and Lebanon.
FIRST, JOY. In churches, schools, universities, and meetings with Christian leaders we have been met with warmth and hospitality and inspired by faithful and constant Christian witness.
Our Presbyterian partnerships here have long and deep roots. Presbyterian missionaries first came in 1823 and started the Evangelical School of Sidon in 1832 for girls, at that time then in the Ottoman Empire. Today the student body of boys and girls, from preschool through high school, is 97% Muslim. The mission of the school is to educate children, to teach democratic principles and to model Christian values of cooperation, respect, and justice, of living with people with other points of view. This is having a profound effect on students and their communities, says John Daoud, the Principle of the school. This is but one example.
The importance of Christian witness is evident in the relief, development, and peacemaking work of the Middle East Council of Churches, in the services of compassion of the Jinishian Program for needy Armenians, in the interchanges conducted by the Arab Group for Christian-Muslim Dialogue, in the scholarship and training of church leaders at the Near East School of Theology under the leadership of our friend and president Dr. Mary Mikhail, and in the education of future leaders and citizens who are taught to pursue knowledge, think critically and become leaders at the Lebanese American University (which was started by Presbyterian missionaries as the Beirut College for Women), American University in Beirut (started by Presbyterian missionaries in 1866) and Haigazian University (affiliated with the Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches).
Another bustling school is the Beirut Evangelical School for Girls and Boys where several hundred students - Christian and Muslim - are taught values as well as academics, and whose students are drawn to return on Sunday for church school - often their first connection to church. The church and school share property with the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (the Presbyterian Synod) and with the offices of the Reverend Doctor Salim Sahiouny, President of the Supreme Council of Evangelical Churches in Syria and Lebanon and as such the leader of Reformed Protestant churches in those countries. Rev. Sahiouny, a Presbyterian, led a 10-year revision of the constitution that applies to Reformed Christians in matters of personal status, including marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Rev. Sahiouny expressed particular thanks to Presbyterian Women for the support that they gave for this project which, among other things, opened the way for women to serve as judges - and one woman now sits as a judge.
CONCERN. In a meeting of Synod leaders, and in dozens of other conversations we had on our brief visit, we heard the grave concern of continuing Christian presence in the Middle East. Christians are leaving in great numbers, and finding diminishing voice in public and civic arenas. Instability and insecurity is prompting those with opportunity or connection in less vulnerable parts of the world to leave. Many of these are Christians. The very presence of vibrant Christian witness is at stake.
One day we traveled to the south of Lebanon and saw the immense devastation caused in last summer's war with Israel. Churches, mosques, bridges, shops and homes are rubble. How quickly they were destroyed. How long it will take to rebuild, even with support coming from donors like the country of Qatar that has committed to the rebuilding of places of worship and homes in three villages.
Lebanon had been rebuilding for the 16 years since its civil war ended when the attacks of last summer took them by surprise. It "destroyed not only stones and bridges, it destroyed dreams" said Reverend Joseph Kassab, General Secretary of the Synod. Other leaders from the Synod spoke to us: "We are tired. . . . Our young people are leaving. . . . Being Christian is difficult in Lebanon. . . .We want our children to live like any other children and pray that they may have time to dream" were among the comments we heard. Reverend Maan Bitar, Moderator of the Synod used the analogy of an eagle with two wings * "one of love and mercy and one of truth and justice. The eagle cannot fly without both wings, although each has a cost and a price," he said.
HOPE. Through the devastation, concerns of emigration and fears, the church is at work - drawing children in, providing food and shelter to refugees during the war, preparing leaders, educating young people, and modeling Christian values.
We were inspired by leaders who maintain hope where there is so much despair, who live and preach the Gospel of hope and reconciliation, of respect and dignity, compassion and justice.
PRAYERS. The people we saw say they pray for us. Let us pray for them, our brothers and sisters in Christ in Lebanon and the Middle East. Let us pray for all people. Let us pray - and work - for peace.
Blessings, Cliff, Linda, Allison, Sarah and Victor
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