Multi-faith day

Yesterday was a most interesting day in that we were exposed to the various spiritual entities in the greater holy land.

The day started off with a visit to the Salt institute for the blind in Salt.  This was the first effort in the whole region to address the needs of hearing impaired people.  We got the story of how it began as a place for people to get fitted for hearing aids and developed into a school for the deaf and eventually a school for the blind and deaf as well.

It is run by the Anglican Church and celebrates its golden anniversary this year.  We got to tour the site, meet with kids and teachers and share a lunch with the school.

It was great to see the hands and feet of Christ in these dedicated people.

Our next stop was St Ephreums Syrian Orthodox Church.  This is a beautiful church in the heart of Ammon that can trace its roots back to the third century.  We were met by a leader who represents the Syrian Orthodox Church to the world council of churches and was both passionate about the faith and about the need for the church to be able to speak into the modern world, and even into the situation in the Middle East.  He himself is a displaced Palestinian Arab Christian, whose family home that they had lived in and owned for hundreds of years was taken from him in the formation of the nation of Israel.  He was very open about how to see this issue from both a Palestinian Arab perspective and a Christ follower perspective.  I could not help but admire both is lack of bitterness and his compassion for the situation over.

We next met with a Muslim believer who talked to us about his faith and the basics of Islam.  He was passionate about the fact, as he put it, that Islam is supposed to be about peace and being a good person, and it is being twisted by a small percentage who are interpreting some questionable passages and permission to do violence.  Awhile I understand his desire to defend his faith, I found myself feeling that he was trying to hard, and was a bit afraid that we might ask questions or know the Koran well enough that we could contradict him.  However, we tried to be gracious to him, but what I would not have given to have Wagdi by my side!!

A long and challenging day but a great one.  And a day that affirms again the incredible grace that is ours through our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.