Tea with Noura and Nabil Katibah

Noura Katibah and her nephew, Nabil Katibah are members of the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Beirut which meets at the N.E.S.T. They are both very connected to the N.E.S.T. Nabil works in the N.E.S.T. library. Noura was a teacher and is friends with just about everyone connected to the N.E.S.T. At tea, one of the first things Noura said is, “I LOVE the N.E.S.T.”

I met Noura after church my first Sunday here and she shared she had a friend named, Carol, also... Carol Weir. I was so delighted and told her Carol is a friend of mine and I live near her in the U.S. Noura and Nabil honored me with an invitation to tea yesterday afternoon. I learned so much about their family, which came from Syria. I am learning more and more about Syria and look forward to my opportunity to visit one day!

Noura’s Father studied at the American University of Beirut for his medical school and went to Palestine to serve the church as a Missionary and Doctor. There is a photo of Noura and Nabil in their home with Noura’s Father in the picture on the wall.

After our tea and amazing pastries from Cigale Bakery... yummy tarts with fresh fruit on top... oh my; Noura shared some photos with me. We were talking about Rev. Else Farr, who served as a Missionary in Lebanon for most of her life and is a dear friend of Noura (and now me too!). There on top of the first box of photos was one with Noura, Else and Noura’s sister, Minnie. Another photo was showing Nabil as a baby with his parents and brother and sister, along with his Auntie Minnie. Another photo was of Noura’s Father and Uncle, both Doctors serving in Palestine, and the back of the photo had an ornate stamp from the photographer that said, “Jerusalem, Palestine”

As we looked through the photos I had a deja vu and remembered helping Carol Weir make a photo album about their family’s time in Lebanon. I shared that with Noura and told her Carol’s album was really what led me on this path to work with the N.E.S.T. There is an interview with Carol Weir and I about this album making path to N.E.S.T.
Following is a link to the PC(USA) News Service article written by Emily Enders Odom.
http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2007/07665.htm

I really feel more and more at home here, thanks to all at the N.E.S.T., and lovely people like the Katibahs. Oh... and one more thing... Noura is 95 and walks most places... what a gift!

Hebrew Class at the N.E.S.T.

Terra Winston received her M. Div. from McCormick Theology Seminary in Chicago, but has had a piece of her heart in the Near East for some time. I'm not sure if I've met anyone more passionate than Terra about Hebrew and so many things. She is here this year doing a variety of service and teaching, which includes teaching Hebrew at the N.E.S.T. I sat in on her class yesterday, along with M. Div. students shown: Bishop Peter Munde Yacoub; Salim Dawani and Bahjet Khader. Terra was teaching what I would call conjugations and had a clever song to help. I don't know much about Hebrew but I learned how to sing the Perfect Endings at the N.E.S.T.


Perfect Endings Song (to the tune of Deck the Halls)

Zip ah ta t ti ooh tim tin nu
Zip ah ta t ti ooh tim tin nu
Learn the letters and you'll learn Hebrew
Zip ah ta t ti ooh tim tin nu

They're the endings
Of the perfect
Zip ah ta
T ti
Ooh tim tin nu

Now the endings are clear for you
Zip ah ta t ti ooh tim tin nu!

Walks to the Sea

I came back to the N.E.S.T. around 2:30 p.m. after church and just couldn't resist the blue sea. I can see it from the N.E.S.T. and knew I needed to be near the water. I traveled down the street, past American University of Beirut and to the steps... they are filled with interesting graffiti... my favorite is the Mickey Mouse faces. Along the way is the old and new next to one another. So much construction going on in Beirut again. Once I arrived at the Corniche I just watched the waves in awe... so blue and so wild. The water was splashing up over the railings and surprising people in a fanciful way. Many families were out walking or biking and enjoying the day!

Kassab Family - NEST Alums at work in the World

After church, the Kassab family invited us to their home. Joseph and Najla Kassab are both N.E.S.T. Alumni and leaders in the church. Joseph Kassab just completed his term at General Secretary of the Synod of Syria and Lebanon. Elections were last week and Joseph will now serve as Secretary of Ecclesial and Spiritual Affairs for the Synod.

Najla served some Calvin chocolates that were very amusing. We all laughed. Joseph attended the World Council of Churches gathering in Switzerland and brought these chocolates home. I heard about these Reformed treats from Dr. Mikhael also, who brought some back for the N.E.S.T. faculty meeting.

The Kassab Children are precious gifts. Mira and Tala are pictured in the blog entry about the Rabiya church and are lovely, active teenage girls! Jad, the precious baby, is two and has captivated the whole family, plus the extended family. Dr. Awwad is transformed into Uncle Johnny in this family and Rev. Mrad stopped by and he also is part of the family. I love watching the love and it feels familiar. Within my own church family and Presbytery, there are many that are my family. My children are also blessed with many Aunties and Uncles within the body. These connections are an extra bonus of being part of a faith community. After hearing the message at church about love, what a treat to see it lived out in this home.

We have two important Christian Education events at the N.E.S.T. Thursday and Friday of this week so I look forward to seeing Najla. She is serving on three of the committee that were formed during last weeks C.E.R.C. consultation. I will share these events with you in this blog... stay tuned!

The N.E.S.T. community continues after graduation and the partnering, learning and sharing opportunities are invaluable. The Kassab’s are just one example of the Church leadership that has been nurtured at the N.E.S.T. Thanks be to God!

The National Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Rabiya

I attended services today at The National Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Rabiya. Dr. Johnny Awwad, N.E.S.T. Professor of New Testament, is a member and Elder at this church. The church is a bit North of Beirut. Along with the church is a school and the offices for the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon.

The Church is large and has stained windows that provide opportunity for the imagination. Jesus and the other faces are blank. The windows also included Cedar Trees, which are a national treasure in Lebanon. Worship is in Arabic and Dr. Awwad was kind enough to translate the service. I am constantly amazed at the power of the holy spirit. It would seem that hearing a service translated might remove some of the impact. I was so moved by the opening Prayer, where Rev. Mrad prayed for those with cancer. He opened the prayer so beautifully that it lifted up my dear friends that I’ve been holding in prayer during this trip, right along with those in this church body. He included a prayer for all in Iraq and a prayer for the murderers in Iraq, that they may be transformed and know that they are not the authors of life. The translation was loud and clear and I treasured the prayer to our Creator who is the author of all life.

Pastor George Mrad preached from the book of Matthew 22: 34-40 about our greatest commandment: Love. He said if you don’t love, you don’t live; and that in any language the strongest emotion is love. He noted that in Arabic, there are two kinds of love but he talked about love in general and lifted up the song, “You’re Nobody ‘til Somebody Loves You”. Clearly God loves everybody and he celebrated with us that we are all somebody because of this love.

He quoted C.S. Lewis, “When I learned to love God more, I loved my friends and family better than I used to love.” So with many wonderful illustrations, he said when it comes to love, say it... when it comes to love, show it... when it comes to love, live it!
Rev. Mrad is also a Judge in the Spiritual Court of Lebanon which deals with family law and divorce, so he has an interesting perspective for this message.

He was realistic that love is risky. But said, “Let us risk with love to overcome hate.” To conclude a beautiful sermon he challenged us to love those we are in conflict with. He said we should first address the conflict within ourselves and then go to the person. He reminded us that hatred and envy don’t kill except the one that has it.

Later in the service a screen was lowered and Rev. Mrad made announcements, which includes a full preview of the November Christian Education offerings. With my U.S. Christian Educator friends in my heart, I was jumping out of my skin. When asking later, I was told the beginning of each month the Pastor highlights what the children will be learning for the coming month so the church body is informed. Wow! I have a photo here of the poster that shows the month’s activities. One week is about a cartoon character named Milo who will teach the children how to pray. Another week the lesson is entitled,”If You Don’t Take Care of Your Body, Where Else Are You Going to Live”. They will also have a Puppet Skit about Smoking written by Esther Muller, the Sunday School Coordinator. Esther showed me the Sunday School rooms after church and I show her in a photo with the displays of the November activities. The rooms are so inviting. In fact, the whole church was so inviting for children and it was clear how important children are in the life of this church family.

The final Sunday of November the younger children will make a Manger sticker scene and the older children will be making scarfs. I took of photo of Mira Kassab, Jennifer Muller and Tala Kassab holding the scarf which is made from fleece.

Esther shared with me the difficulty of getting Christian Education Materials through customs and into the country. The church, as most churches in the area, rely on having people who come from the U.S. bring the curriculum in their personal luggage.

This highlights the great need for the N.E.S.T. Christian Education Resource Center and part of the dream. Having a center where Curriculum and Resources and Teaching Aids are made available will be a great help to the churches in this region. Again, we are asking friends in the U.S. if you have recent curriculum or resources that you could provide for the C.E.R.C. to help local churches, please contact Shake Geotcherian at: Shake.Geotcherian@theonest.edu.lb OR shake_g@hotmail.com. I’ve already told Shake and Esther I would be happy to bring a suitcase of Christian Education materials next visit to the N.E.S.T.

Lebanese Bakery ... Sunday, November 2, 2008

I went to church with Dr. Johnny Awwad on Sunday. On the way he took me to a bakery to get Knafeh, a traditional Lebanese breakfast sweet. It is a bread with sesame seeds on top, then is stuffed with a cheese that is baked with nuts and sugar syrup on top. Very delicious and rich! I've just thrown the Weight Watchers point system into the Mediterranean Sea...

Weekends at the N.E.S.T. - November 1, 2008

Weekends at the N.E.S.T. are very quiet. Many students go home to be with their families and churches. The ones who live farther from home stay. We decided to have a movie night in the student lounge so I attempted to make a cake. I am a bit challenged with the oven in my apartment so Terra and new friend, Mohammed, helped me. To start the oven, the pilot must be lit with a match. Oven lit, now it was time to set the temperature. The highest setting was 350 and of course, that was what my cake mix required... so we fired up the oven to preheat. I put the cake on and Terra noted it seemed to be baking quickly. Silly me... we are not in Farenheight territory... 350 really meant 500 degrees or more! YIkes! Luckily the oven was turned down and the pumpkin cake salvaged for movie night!

We watched "Mama Mia" in the student lounge. I caught one photo of Bahjet Khader, Jirair "Jiro" Ghazarian, John M'mbirithi, Terra Winston, and Talar Marashlian before the movie began. Bishop Peter Munde, the Dorman Family, Yacoub Sabbagh, Salim Dawani, and Jacqueline Hoover were also in and out of the movie viewing. The plot and humor was difficult for some. After the movie, Yacoub played different humorous short video clips of Mr. Bean and Coke commercials about Priests and, well, you had to be here. All I can say is, people here like to laugh, which is fun!

The weekend weather was glorious. During the late afternoon Terra Winston and I retreated to Cafe Younes for little break and time for internet for me and grading Hebrew papers for her! We also stopped in the Cigale... a delightful candy and pastry shop. Yummmmmmmm!

None of the staff are around on the weekends so the students man the front door desk in shifts. It is just a very different rhythm and a bit lonely. All the more fun to gather together, even if some are studying and others are writing or reading or playing music. It has been fun to trade music. I'm learning a lot about contemporary Christian music from Jiro.