You know how some days you are having a quite ordinary, daily grind, nothing special kinda day. Today was no different – went to the gym for 45 mins, stuck in management training for eight hours, did a yoga DVD before heading to the 18:15 “contemporary” protestant service at the Palace. I can’t help but think how this the “Republican Palace” of Saddam Hussein, has remained exactly that, the “Republican Palace” – only now, the halls crawl with GOP ideologues here for a thrill, and for their president. This article highlights how resumes of incredibly qualified individuals were thrown out in exchange for 24-year olds who gave the right answer to where they stood on Roe vs. Wade.
Wait, this is not the reason for this post at all. But I do encourage all to read the article in the Post to understand some of the frustration we deal with everyday. Back to the reason for my writing tonight however. The sermon, and how a seemingly ordinary day, turned out to have a very special gift at the end. His name is Canon Andrew White. His 6’5” posture is overpowering, and that is before he opens his mouth. The late’ish-thirties Brit who is a visiting pastor to our largely military congregation, save for the development folks like ourselves, towers over the podium, and the congregation is glued. “How many of you were here when I talked about Jonah?”…he briefly scans the room “…ah, maaaahvelous then, you won’t mind if I repeat myself then would you?”, joking with the handful of folks that raised their hands.
He continues to explain that he will preach from the book of Nahum. Something he has done “about once, I think it was about ten years ago”. Explaining the only reason for preaching about this obscure prophet is that one of the members of his Iraqi congregation told him that he is from Ninewa.
As it is, our friend with the Monty Python sense of humor and little tolerance for unwanted political correctness, has worked in Iraq since 1998. He used to live in the Karada district in downtown Baghdad, and had a congregation on Haifa street. That was until the US Embassy told him to move his operation into the IZ after they discovered he had a $5 million bounty on his head. Pastor White continues to worship with his dedicated Iraqi congregation however, albeit within the confinement of the IZ. Every Saturday from around 10:30 or so – apparently last Saturday after 5 hours he tried using a Blessing to end the proceedings, alas, he was there for two more hours as the mostly Caldian Assyrian Christians continued to worship. I was waiting to hear where these proceedings took place so that we might attend next week, when the entire congregation went deathly silent when he explained that it actually takes place in the office of the Shiite Muslim Prime Minister. The reality of that is slow to sink in, when he continues.
People ask Pastor White, “wow, when did the Iraqis convert to Christianity”. Did the Baptists come here? He responds “sure they did, in 2003, right after the invasion – I met them at a Southern Baptist Convention in Baghdad” (sic). After all, how do you explain to people that Iraqis have been practicing Christianity for roughly 2,600 years? At the tale of Jonah and the whale the Pastor exclaims “…and to think Jonah didn’t want to come to Iraq, instead he wanted to go to Spain, I mean REALLY, who WOULDN’T want to come to Iraq???...” we laugh. He continues “not to worry, that’s when God sent him by submarine”. More laughter. The congregation is gripped with his tales of Saturday worships in the PM’s office and quick stabs like “…yes, I am indeed Anglican, but not American Anglican, I’m British Anglican, the side that still believes in the Bible”. Nervous laughter.
To listen to a man preach the Bible that spends his Saturdays working with the people who are in the Bible, is something way beyond spiritual. Just this past Saturday during his Jonah tale, he asked his congregation, “how many of you are from Ninewa” (the town Jonah was sent to save), over 60 people raised their hands…And here they were 2,600 years later. Islam has come and gone through their towns and villages, and they still worship God… and we read about them in the Bible, and they are here, in Baghdad.
I am going to try and get a copy of the service on DVD to share with those interested (and you can be sure I’m trying to go to the service in the PMs office).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment