Posted 11-12-04

One of the many striking sights when walking in the Old City of Jerusalem is the doorways. They are a mystery. Unless they are wide open, or are the front doors of churches, mosques or synagogues, you can't know what's behind them. Every once in a while, people exit from or enter the door you are walking by. Some of them have wonderful stone around the frames. Some are stark and made of metal. Some are painted and decorated. I am not the only person captivated by the doorways. People make money selling posters of some of the doorways of the city. I wonder more about the life behind them. I also wonder if we all have unique and wonderful doorways to our lives. If we were pictured as a doorway, what would we look like. Would we be decorated in ways that communicate who we are? Would our doors be made of a particular material. I hope none of yours are made of iron and painted a utilitarian color! Would our doorways be strong? Inviting? Surprising? I added the last one, because every once in a while, when someone is coming out of their doorway, you can see past them and it is a courtyard. In the courtyard, you can see that the homes are well cared for and that there are flowers and other decorations to make it home. When people get past your doorway, what do they see? Do you offer a refreshing place to relax away from the heat and bustle of the city? There are times that I have felt trapped on the streets of Jerusalem and wish I could have found a cool, quiet place to sit and get away from it all. I believe that is ministry. Maybe, that's the ministry of the church. We are a chance to get away from the fast paced, unforgiving rat race. We can offer the cool breezes of the Spirit to those in need of getting away to a real place.

Peace to you,

Ralph

November 13, 2004

Today we went to monasteries in the desert. They are Coptic monasteries. Coptics are Egyptian Christians who have been worshiping in the desert for about 1,700 years. Some of the churches and art we saw today are almost that old. The first pic is from the roof top and shows a bit of the size of the monastery and that they look fairly modern from the outside. When you go inside you see arches and frescos that indicate the age of the churches. You can feel the age of the places and the number of years of prayers that have happened there.

As great as all that was, it was not the highlight. The highlight was the number of children and young people that were streaming into the monastery and into the mass that was taking place. Coptics have services that last more than three hours. The children would come with family and with church groups. Some would be walking hand in hand or arm in arm. Older children would be escorting many of them. Most of them were smiling and many tried to talk with us. At one point, our guide (who is a Coptic Christian) asked some teens to sing us one of their songs, and they did! That's what the second picture is about. In another picture you will later see, one teen accompanied on small cymbols.

The last picture is from the second Monastery, the Monastery of the Holy Virgin Mary. There were many icons and frescos on the walls. Some were found underneath 11th century paintings and dated from the 4th or 5th centuries. In one part of the church, three people were restoring and old fresco. The picture may be dark, but I wanted to try it.

The weather has been very agreeable. I'm sure we are over 80 during the day (hotter in the desert) and low 70's, maybe upper 60's at night. In Cairo, there is alot of haze in the morning. Some of it is polution, some of it is because of the humidity added to the air by a huge dam and the usage of a lot of water. It sounds similar to what happens in places like Arizona, where we alter the climate.

As great as it all is, home sounds really good.

Peace and prayers, Ralph+