Lebanon #4: Hope
Hope
Rev. Toby Mueller, for the team
Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church, Franklin, Tennessee
As our U.S. team gathered on the porch for our morning devotional time, the theme “Hope” stood out loud and clear. Where do we see hope? How can we reflect the hope we know in Christ to others, even the stranger?
Hope threaded its way through our day. Morning worship was led by Rev. George Mourad, pastor of the Rabieh church north of Beirut, the same church our team worshiped with on Sunday. He spoke of the parable of the good Samaritan, encouraging us to come near to people – even those we don’t know, and discern their situation, offering what we can with what is available.
These women we move amongst, laugh with and take too many selfies to count live into this hope. They have lived through so much, it seems, one trial after another. Eleven years of war in Syria, not only with devastating impact upon Syria but upon Lebanon as well. Two years ago, the Beirut port blast killed hundreds and affected thousands. Now the Lebanese economy is in a freefall, and currency is now worth 10% of what it was worth, sending this educated, middle-class people into poverty.
Yet there is hope. As Sister Emily Tannous spoke later this morning, we are all tapestries, all the threads of our experiences woven by God, making us who we are. And this combination of threads woven by God, unique to each of us, carries a message of hope to the world, the hope that we know in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The light of Christ shown through the faces of these ladies as they entered the craft room to choose one of the many painted crosses to decorate for themselves with puff paint and adorn them with gems. The scandal of the cross became beautiful in the hands and through the imaginations of these women – because they have hope, sometimes barely a glimmer, but still hope even in the midst of great suffering.
The day concluded on a somber note, as we gathered to remember, grieve, and rejoice for the lives of six women who, since we last gathered in 2019, have joined the company of the saints in the heavenly kingdom: Josephine from Qamishli, Julia from Damascus, Mouna from Latakia, Micheline from Homs, Elham from Sidon, Madeline from Aleppo.
Thanks be to God for these witnesses, remembered and living, who remind us of God’s presence and care for each of us. And thanks be to God for their witness to the hope we all have, because of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
