Greetings on the Feast of Nineveh
Today the fast of Jonah has finished with Holy Communion to celebrate the feast of Nineveh. We have had our fast of repentance. We may be in the midst of trauma but we still need to repent and to get right with the Almighty.
It has been a wonderful fast, a very serious fast. It is a time when we learn about the very heart of our faith here in Iraq. That Jonah was sent by God to the evil city of Nineveh, to the Assyrians who waged war on God's people.
Today we start the feast of Jonah and we celebrate the fact that all the Assyrians are followers of the Lord, and they all originate from Nineveh. 2,700 years later Nineveh, in an Islamic country, remains a Christian place. Now that is a miracle.
So we brought some cakes and took them to the Mother Theresa home for disabled children. Yasser, one of the clever little boys, just wanted to know where Abouna (Father) Bill, our Archdeacon, was. He has only been there once but for Yasser that was enough. He was not very pleased that Bill had left the country but I assured him he would be back.
A dear friend
I have not written much about my friend Melanie who recently died. I have not written because I have been so upset. To be honest I do not think I have ever been so upset about being here, and not being able to see her or go to her funeral.
Soon after she died on 29th January I wrote the following about Melanie Wright:
I remember the day so well; it was a Wednesday afternoon in fresher's week of 1989. I was manning the Cambridge University Jews and Christians stall as I was its President.
A young lady came up, and it was Melanie. We talked for hours but
that was just the beginning. She soon became one of my closest friends and an active member of the Jewish and Christian Association.
It was not long before she switched from Law to Theology. The friendship continued and it was the following long vacation that she joined me for her first trip to Israel. I went and got ordained and she continued in theology, and like me specialised in Jewish-Christian relations. The story continues, she got a 1st, went to the other place to do her doctorate and became a great expert in Judaism.
Over the years we had intermittent dealings with each other. Then thanks to Facebook we reconnected. By this time I was in Baghdad and she was still in Cambridge married to Justin. He has also become my friend. We now communicated regularly with each other.
The great simplicity of faith
On good days and bad we would discuss them over the internet. Then Melanie became ill again and we would communicate even more. She was a person of such great faith. I remembered going to church together as students. Faith now for dear Melanie was different, it had such depth. Despite her academic prowess it also had a great simplicity.
For me too, surrounded by death and destruction being the vicar of Baghdad, I also held on to the simplicity of faith. Even in my difficulties - when Melanie's were so great herself - she would always encourage me.
As Melanie became ill, I shared her story with my people in St George's Baghdad.
Several times each week we had prayer meetings for her. Every night the young children who live in our compound would come to me to say prayers for Melanie.
We would pull up her picture on the computer and each of us would say a prayer for her. Melanie was now a vital part of our life. The fact is we all love her.
Then the terrible day came when I had to tell them that our Melanie was no more on earth, she had gone to heaven. I was in floods of tears, so soon were several of our people. Then one of the children spoke, "Don't cry daddy," he said (that's what they call me) "we have lots of family in heaven, they will look after Melanie."
Then another child said "all our family in heaven speak Aramaic (they do) and so does Jesus, so they will talk to Him and tell Him to look after her as well."
We have no doubt that our Lord will look after our dear Melanie.
We have nearly finished building a large kindergarten, and one of our children asked me if a classroom would be named after Melanie. Justin agreed with the idea, so it will be. So we will have Jonah, St Thomas, St Peter, St Mary and Melanie.
What they all have in common is they are all in heaven but they are all so special to us here in Baghdad. We know that our dear Melanie will Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory.
Over the past few days I have thought and prayed a lot for Melanie's husband Justin, I have remembered Melanie continually and thought why. I know the reason why and, for the first time, I will say why.
I was in Israel with Melanie and one other person, a friend from my medical days, Alison. They had never been to Israel and I remember that I was researching the role of Israel in Christian Theology. We were talking to an Ultra Orthodox Rabbi friend. He told us that we had to go and see a lady minister called Ruth Heflin.
We went, and it was a meeting I will never forget. She was a very powerful lady, full of the presence of the living G-d. After the meeting she came over to Melanie and started to prophesy
over us both. She said over Melanie that she was going to be a great academic in the field of Jewish-Christian relations.
This she was, just read her books on the subject. Today on Facebook, I read that her husband was putting together her next book, on the issue of the Jews in London. She did indeed become a great academic in this subject.
Then Ruth came over to me and prophesied that my life would be spent working for peace in the Middle East. That too has become true. I thought that would always mean Israel but here I am in Iraq doing that very thing. A few weeks ago Melanie and I were talking on email about that very meeting. Now our Melanie is in heaven, so is Ruth Heflin, and I am sure they have met up.
Democracy and demonstrations
Meanwhile, here in the Middle East we are faced with very significant trauma. Following the traumatic successful revolution in Egypt much of the Middle East is now in uproar.
In many countries there are indeed issues that need dealing with. It is not all about democracy, though. As I have said many times before democracy does not work in this part of the world. What we need is benevolent dictatorship. It is when the dictatorship stops being benevolent - as it often has in this area - that there are big problems.
Here in Iraq mass violent demonstrations have also started.
The fact is that here we do have democracy, but it is not benevolent either. So rich in natural resources and yet we lack in basic services like water and electricity. Most of our people are so poor and have nothing. The only solution is a leadership that cares not for itself, but for the masses and provides for them.
We should have gone down to Najaf today but the violence has been too bad. I have therefore been to meet some of the key Islamic leaders here in Baghdad, as we plan our engagement with the religious leaders around the country.
Onwards
It has now been over a month since our Fatwa in Copenhagen, and violence has restarted as we were told it would. It's more important than ever that we continue our meetings, continue to build bridges and relationships between leaders, so that change will be lasting.
With every Blessing from Baghdad,
Andrew
Canon Andrew White
