This weekend, at the services in US Embassy and at St George's, we looked simply at the apostle, St. Thomas.
The way that he is perceived in the West and East could not be more different. In the US Embassy service I asked what they thought about Thomas and the answer simply came back "DOUBT". When I ask the same question to any Iraqi Christian the reply is always "Mar Toma (St Thomas) is our Father, he is the reason we are Christians, to us he is the greatest saint."
Such different perceptions about the same saint. In the West we simply remember him as the saint who doubted. We forget that the other disciples also doubted. We do not remember that he simply asked the questions we would really ask. What is the way to the Father? (John 14) Is Jesus really alive; I want proof? (John 20).
Jesus appears and tells Thomas to touch His wounds. Thomas not only believes, he proclaims the very deity of the Lord Jesus "My Lord and my G-d". Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit". This was the first impartation of the Holy Spirit before Pentecost. The fact is that after the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, all the Disciples changed forever. No longer did they deny and doubt. They became aware that Jesus had gone ahead of them to heaven and the disciples became the mighty evangelists.
Peter became the father of the Church in the west. Other disciples all shared the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire, but one disciple went much further afield, and that was Thomas.
First he went to Mesopotamia (Iraq). There he stopped off at Nineveh and he found a people who already believed in the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jonah and Nahum had been there before him and shared the news of the one true G-d. Thomas asked them if they knew their Messiah had come. He told them about Jesus and they all believed. To this day the people of Nineveh are still Christians. All our Church came from there and the Assyrians, once the most wicked people, 2000 years later are now the avid followers of Jesus. And this is all because of Mar Thoma (St Thomas).
Thomas did not stop in Iraq, he went on to India. There he went to the place of the large Jewish community of Cochin. He told them their Messiah had come and many believed him. The Church was started in India that to this day is known as the Mar Thoma Church, a church that continues to take it leadership from the Assyrian Church in Iraq.
The story of Thomas is one of Hope and Destiny. The resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit Changed Thomas forever and will also change us for ever so that we to will be the soldiers of the Almighty destined for Heaven.
Prayers for the week to come
It has been a good but active week. St George's is part of the diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf and most of last week I was at our Synod in Cyprus. It was very good and it is always wonderful to be amongst such dynamic friends. Our speaker was Bishop Jack Nicholls the former Bishop of Sheffield and it was simply wonderful having him. Faiz and Nawal, his wife and the leader of the Mothers Union, are still in Cyprus and staying with the bishop, which is great for them.
Back in Baghdad, our services were packed to overflowing. Tomorrow we start the fast of Jonah, remembering the fast that the Assyrian people of Nineveh held in response to Jonah's message.
This coming week is very important and there are several key meetings. Tomorrow (Monday) we will be in the US Embassy to discuss the next conference of the High Council of Religious Leaders in Iraq. We will also be meeting with some of the religious leaders, continuing to work to prevent religious persecution.
The other major issue we have is that of security. Since the persecution of Christians began, our security has been considerably reduced, despite the government's assurance that it will increase our protection. The security in the church compound is only provided by Christians and several of our guards have fled and not been replaced. The security outside of the church compound is carried out mainly by Muslim soldiers and some of them have refused to look after the church because of the increased risk.
The British Embassy has suggested that we should hire security contractors, but (a) we do not have the money to enable this, and (b) there are real problems with having westerners doing security for us as, in many ways, that makes us more of a target.
So your prayers about these points would be much appreciated.
With every blessing,
