Fresh Mangos and Fig Jam 2010:10

Nearly every morning at breakfast there is a tray of jam to spread in addition to the infamous ful (fava beans) that so many of you have heard about. Some mornings, when I just can’t face another plate of ful mixed with cheese, I opt for a container of fig jam to spread on my bread.

Fig jam and fresh mangos are two of my favorite Egyptian treats. I’m sure I could buy fig jam in America, but I never had it before coming here and I never think to look for it at home because I don’t usually have jam at home.

Monday afternoon in study hall Samer started asking me strange questions. Samer’s English is excellent so it was not a matter of not understanding his English syntax, I just didn’t understand his questions: “If Jesus were to come to your door what hour would he come?”

“Any hour.”

“Any hour?”

“Yes. Jesus could come at any hour.”

“What about a messenger of Jesus. When would a messenger of Jesus come?”

“Why is a messenger of Jesus going to come?”

A shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe he will come, maybe he won’t. But at what hour would he come?”

I was entirely confused by this point. I had no idea what Samer was asking. We left it with Samer’s words, “Be aware. You never know when a messenger of the Lord will come” and an understanding that it would be better if the messenger came before 10:30 if the messenger wanted me to answer a knock on the door.

Sure enough at 10:15 there was a knock on the door. When I opened it I found Samer holding a bag with a package of fresh, ripe mangos and a large jar of fig jam. “A gift from Jesus” he said and left.

If you come and visit I’ll share my fig jam, but I’m eating my mangos for lunch today!

I Must Preach 2010:9

Wael is a student who is new to seminary this year and new to English as well. Like Atef, he is in my Level 1 class. Wael’s English is difficult to understand – he struggles with basic grammar, his vocabulary is quite limited, and yet he wants so much to learn and to communicate. Sometimes when I am explaining something in class I’m certain that he has no idea what I’m saying. And yet at other times he surprises me with what comes out of his mouth.

On Saturday as a reward for their very hard work so far, I showed a short DVD to the students in Level I about prayer. After the video we had a discussion. It was difficult because while they have many ideas, they struggle to find the words and grammar in English to communicate. In the course of the conversation I noticed Wael take out a piece of paper at one point and scribble some words At the next lull in the conversation he spoke two relatively clear sentences about his ideas about prayer. It was amazing.

At the end of study hall on Monday Wael surprised me again. For the last week the more advanced students have been offering homilies in English in the daily mass. This is one of the things that I work with them on each year. They’ve done very well. Wael said to me, “Pastor Amy I want . . . no I NEED to preach in mass. Next week I preach?”

“Wael if you work on your English very hard in the year ahead maybe next year you will be ready to prepare a homily.”

“No. I must do.”

“Wael preaching is very, very difficult. You must know grammar and you must know vocabulary and you must know correct pronunciation and you must be able to put your ideas from Arabic into English that is clear. This is very very hard.”

“No. When Jesus go up, he send Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit send apostles to all nations and use all languages. I will preach. The Holy Spirit here.”

The conversation continued for some time. The truth is that Wael is not ready to prepare a homily in English just yet. He has a lot to learn. Through their hard work, his brothers in Level 4 have made it look easy and Wael and other students want to try as well. What Wael doesn’t know is that he preached a sermon for me today.

“I must preach. When Jesus go up, he send Holy Spirit. . . . I will preach. The Holy Spirit here.”

This is good news indeed spoken to me by a young man who doesn’t know the proper usage of the verb “to be” but who trusts with all his heart that the Holy Spirit has been sent to him to preach the good news of Jesus to his brothers and sisters in Christ. He has every confidence the Holy Spirit will use his broken English. Oh to have such confidence, such determination, and such faith!

Thanks be to God!

Nilometer 2010:8

On Thursday, 24 June we took the students on a field trip to the Nilometer on the island of Roda. After several days of extreme heat, Thursday morning was a gorgeous morning with a break in the heat and a cool breeze, especially along the Nile.

Among all the sights you could visit in Egypt, this Nilometer would probably not make it onto anyone’s top 10 list, but I like it because it’s manageable. There’s one thing to see and appreciate, as opposed to many tourists sights in Egypt where there’s such richness it’s almost overwhelming. I also like it because in one place you bring together ancient Egypt’s science, technology and governing structures with more recent Egyptian art and architecture. And all of this happens in a place that I consider a cathedral to water – specifically the Nile the source of life and prosperity for Egyptians from the beginning of creation.

In the Coptic Mass that we pray each morning, the intercessions include this prayer which has become a favorite of mine. Those familiar with the psalms will hear echoes of Psalm 104. In this prayer you hear what the Nile has been and continues to be for the people of Egypt – the source of life, a sign of God’s abundance and blessing, and a resource to be shared “for the sake for the sake of the poor of your people.”

Bless, Lord, the waters of the Nile, plants and fruits of the earth for the sake of the poor of Your people: widows, orphans, strangers, guests and workers in every locale as well as those who beseech You and call out Your holy name. For the eyes of all hope in You and You give them their food in due season. Be gracious to us according to Your goodness, You who give food to each one. Fill our hearts with joy and peace. May there be enough of everything so that we may grow in every good work.

Break Time 2010:7

English classes are held Monday through Saturday from 9 – 1 every day. Each class period is 50 minutes long. There’s a 10-minute break between the first and second and third and four class periods and a 20 minute “tea” break between the second and third class.

At break time students break off into groups. Some sit on the steps talking and joking with each other, always a ping pong match is played – usually doubles. Some students go in search of ripe mangos from the tree in the courtyard and still others find a patch of grass for a few minutes of silence or quiet conversation. Often discussion from class spills out into the hallways and occasionally theological debates evolve. It seems like in the past week there’s a been a lot of conversation about Martin Luther (generally not initiated by me).

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We're Walking 2010:6

After dinner tonight the teachers took out a large group of students for ice cream and soda as a reward for their hard work last week. After we got everyone fed and watered, I began walking with two of my fellow teachers, the seminarians from Rome and three of the students. As I lead the way down the street, Aymen, one of the students said, "Pastor Amy, do you know where you are going?"

"Yes. Up ahead is the circle and then we turn left to return to the seminary."

"How do you know this?"

"Aymen, I have been traveling to Egypt for four years. I have walked these streets many times in the day and at night. I know where I am going."

I should have kept leading the way, but Albert insisted he would take us a new way. After 10 minutes of walking he was lost. Atef and I began leading the way and he insisted if we kept going straight we'd hit Road 87 and then take a right to go to seminary. I insisted we'd need to take a left. We made a bet on who would be correct.

Atef owes me soda!

Narrow Roads 2010:5

I preached in Mass this morning. One of my students who was schedule to preach today had his appendix out last week so he's out of commission for a while. I took his place.

The text was the assigned gospel reading for the day - Matthew 7:7,12-14. Last night at dinner, Wael, a student in Level 1, came up to me at dinner and said, "Pastor Amy, What is this "pastor"?" I had explained this word in class last week, but Wael's English is quite limited so I'm not surprised he didn't catch on. So I tried to explain again.

"Abuna Esshak is a priest, yes?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"In America, a pastor equal to a priest. (pause) Do you understand?"

Eyes getting wide. "Pastor equal to Priest?"

"Yes."

"Ohhh. . . You . . . will lead the mass?"

"No. I will not lead the mass, but tomorrow I will preach in the mass."

"You will preach? Tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Then in very broken English, "I pray that the Holy Spirit will help me know your words."

This was my prayer for Wael this morning . . . and for you too. The words are simple - intended for young men with good minds and strong faith, but limited English.

I love that when Jesus speaks, he often makes pictures with his words. I think Jesus understood sometimes people have a hard time understanding ideas and thoughts, but if you show a picture it can help people to understand.

In our reading for today there are many pictures you could see. You could see someone knocking at a door and watch it open up. You could see a large gate or a small gate. Or you could see a wide road or a narrow road. In all of these pictures Jesus is trying to teach his followers about a life of faith. For this morning I would like you to think about two pictures only from the gospel – a wide road and a narrow road.

In your mind picture a wide road – any wide road that is crowded with cars and people and traffic. Maybe the Corniche el Nil, maybe a road in the center of Cairo, maybe a road in your city, but imagine any wide road that is crowded with cars and people and traffic.

In my mind there is one picture that I see. I am thinking about the first time I came to Egypt and was driven to the seminary from the airport on a very busy wide road. There were cars and trucks and buses and motorcycles and donkeys carrying carts of watermelon and people trying to cross 6 lanes of traffic where there should only have been 4 lanes. Everywhere I looked outside my window there were shops along side of the road and signs and things to see. All of this and it felt like we were going very very fast in this car. I had never seen anything like this before. I was both very excited to be experiencing so many new things and very afraid. I wondered would I make it the seminary without an accident. This was my very first sight of Egypt and I didn’t know – would every road in Egypt be like this road?

Sometimes our life of faith is like a very wide road. There are many things that call our name and seek our attention. There are many things we have to find our way around. There is work that keeps us very busy and very focused. Much of the time this work is good work – maybe we are studying English – this is very good, hard work. Maybe we are helping a friend or caring for someone who is sick.

But there is a danger to us if our life of faith is like a very wide road. We can become so busy working hard, or trying to keep up with the people around us that we face the danger of a crash. Something happens and we run into an obstacle. We hurt someone we love because we were trying to move to fast. We make ourselves sick because we are so focused on our work or caring for others that we forget to take care of ourselves. Or the worst thing of all – we become so busy with our work that we lose our faith in Jesus because we don’t give him the same attention that we give everything else.

Now I want you to picture in your mind a narrow road – any road that is small. Maybe there is room for only one car. Maybe there is not even room for a car, but only a space for one or two people to walk. Maybe it is a secret road – only those who take this road know it there.

Sometimes our life of faith is like this narrow road. It is a road that we only travel with the people who are closest to us. It is a road that we sometimes find ourselves on in worship or in reading the Bible or in prayer and meditation. It is the road where we seek ways to connect with Jesus. It is the road where we meet Jesus. And with Jesus by our side it is the road where we face our failures and sins and experience the grace of forgiveness.

Jesus wants our life of faith to be like this narrow road. This narrow road is the place where we find Jesus waiting to walk with us and waiting to help us through the difficulties of life. This narrow road is not always an easy road to travel. Like the wide road, there will be times where we find obstacles placed in our way. But on this narrow road Jesus meets us and gives us the great life, the full and abundant life that he wants us to have.

A great poet in America wrote about two roads that separate in the wilderness. He wrote:

Two roads [separated] in [the wilderness],
and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Jesus calls us to this narrow road. And he promises to meet us along the way.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen