Dear Friends,
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Greetings and
blessings from Baghdad at a very significant for us here. The US
combat mission officially ends this week. I will comment on that in a moment but first
let me update you on the weekend.
Weekend Worship
The weekend
saw a welcome addition to our usual set of meetings. On Saturday I was at both
the protestant US Embassy service as well as the Anglican, Episcopal &
Lutheran one.
With the draw down of the US military there will no longer be a chaplain in
place. This resulted in me being invited to adopt the role, looking after both
of these services in the world's largest embassy. I'm delighted to do this.
As part of the
US policy on the separation of Church and State, US Embassies do not normally
have a chaplain. But here in Baghdad you cannot simply walk down the road to
church - so we worship here.
We had another time of extended worship at St. George's. People just stayed to
sing to the Almighty. As I have said before when you have lost everything it is
then you realise that Jesus is all you have. Jesus is indeed all these people
have and yet as I looked at them I could see their great joy. They were all
people who have suffered so much and yet they are not people of sadness.
Online Discussion
Yesterday, after updating my Facebook status about the exit of US troops, I
received lot's of responses. I referred to President Obama's statement about
the war being over - but here it does not seem that way. Things are getting worse.
The good news
is that the USA is not leaving us. There are thousands of people staying behind
to help us in every aspect of Iraqi life. I still firmly believe that what the
US and Coalition have done was right, and it has been so costly for them.
You can find
me on Facebook listed as "Canon Andrew White" and there is also an official
FRRME page - here.
TV Appearance
Tonight on CNN
International at 21.00 BST (20.00 GMT) I will be featured on the Connect
programme. There will be an interview with me, including footage of the Iraqi
young people from their time in England. I do hope you can watch it if
possible.
With every blessing from Baghdad,
Andrew
Canon Andrew White,
Baghdad, Iraq
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