“It is very easy to lose heart when others have already lost heart and try to convince you that it is better to stick to the routine, to forget having visions for the future and just try to survive,” Shanazarian said. “ It is very easy to lose heart if we look only to things that are seen. But by the grace of our Lord, who rose from the dead, and by trusting our Father who makes the cross a source of blessing, we stop losing heart.
But it’s hard not to lose heart, pastors tell WMD breakfast group
Two pastors from beleaguered Middle Eastern churches appeared Thursday morning at the Worldwide Ministries Division Assembly breakfast to offer a message of hope.
Using the odd logic of faith, the Rev. Hendrick Shanazarian of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Iran and the Rev. Mitri Raheb, pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church of Bethlehem, said there is reason for hope. For Shanazarian, it is in solidarity; for Raheb, in prophetic visioning.
Both men serve in churches where the Christian community is dwindling as members leave in search of economic security.
The Rev. Victor Makari, coordinator for the Office of Middle East and Europe, made introductory remarks against the backdrop of a photo of the Wall of Separation at the Worldwide Ministries Breakfast. Photo by David P. Young
“It is very easy to lose heart when others have already lost heart and try to convince you that it is better to stick to the routine, to forget having visions for the future and just try to survive,” Shanazarian said. “ It is very easy to lose heart if we look only to things that are seen. But by the grace of our Lord, who rose from the dead, and by trusting our Father who makes the cross a source of blessing, we stop losing heart.
“When we see God working even in such difficult situations, we take heart. When we see you, our partners, our brothers and sisters beside us, helping us to meet some of the needs and supporting in different ways, we are encouraged to continue without losing heart.”
He said membership in the church of Iran has declined over the past 25 years, and there are now only five active Presbyterian churches, in two major cities, Tehran and Urumieh. In other towns, worship is held only every other month.
He said economic hardship is pushing families to leave Iran, in hopes of providing better education for their children and improving their job prospects.
Raheb pushed for solidarity — plus. Left to human devices only, he said, Christians may muddle the message, just as the first Christians did at Pentecost. He said the temptation is to be nationalistic, to believe that God will restore a “narrow-minded” kingdom — or to be escapist, focusing only on the world beyond, because this world is a “hopeless case.”
What is most faithful, he said, is doing the hard work of finding a third way, in which Christians are not “restoring the first kingdom or waiting on a second to come … but working on something like a third kind of kingdom that is outrageous, never thought of.”
That kingdom, he said, is a difficult project, because it includes caring about the well-being of one’s enemies — which makes one vulnerable to a charge of being unpatriotic.
Members of a recent General Assembly Council delegation to the Middle East recognized the service of the Rev. Victor Makari, the PC(USA)’s area coordinator for the Middle East, by buying 12 olive trees in his name to be planted in Palestine to replace those bulldozed by the Israeli army.
