Maana Allah

Maana Allah - with us, God - in Arabic. Sound at all familiar? Our word "Emmanuel" comes from an Arabic-like root. Once I told Katrina that Jesus would have spoken a language very similar to Arabic. "Lucky Arabs" was her reply.

Here are a few pictures - and thoughts - of our Lessons and Carols Christmas concert December 5. Choirs from all over Morocco (mostly black-African students originally from sub-Saharan Africa) come together to do a concert. This is the only day all year when the university opens its usually snobby gates to whoever wants to come in - appropriate for a Christmas concert, is it not? We are so thankful to the university for allowing us to do the concert this year after all the problems against Christians in the spring. They also allow us to advertize and openly invite Moroccans. This place really does try to be tolerant and for that we are deeply grateful.

Annas - A Lebanese/Moroccan Christian who sings so beautifully I get the chills. He sometimes sings in Aramaic - what Jesus would have spoken. Then I get double chills!

One of the rockin' and rollin' African choirs - so much fun and so much joy! This group also sang "Isn't he . . . Beautiful?" which I've never heard as a Christmas song. But it was so beautifully and tenderly sung that it brought tears to my eyes.

Our little kid choir who sang "Some Children See Him" for the concert. Zahra (on right) is a friend who came to watch.

To give you an idea of timelines in Africa:

Karen tells the choirs that the concert starts at 3:00. (It starts at 4:00, but you'll soon see why she does this)

Concert starting time - 4:00 - only a few guests have arrived and over half of the choirs and readers are absent.

4:30 - The auditorium has about 500 people. Most of the readers and choirs are in.

4:45 - The concert starts with about 600 in attendance.

5:00 - The last choir pulls in and can be heard practicing in a back room during a quiet moment.

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All that said, my overwhelming feeling at the concert is JOY. So many of the African choir members have been through hell on earth but yet their faces glow and their amazing voices are bursting with joy. When our little pitiful white choir sings, I even feel like I glow. Why? There are many reasons.

But most of all, it's because I feel - I know -

God is with us.

Emanuel.

Maana Allah.

Thanksgiving

In years past, we have had huge Thanksgiving celebrations on campus which are open to all. But some of us whined and said that it was just getting too big and didn't feel anything like Thanksgiving. So it was that we decided to do a small meal in our home inviting the church community and a few others.

Tuesday morning the count was 30. By 10:00, it was 40. By noon it was 50 and by evening it was approaching 60. Now realize, we do have a large three-bedroom apartment. But, I had to ask myself, just HOW large is it??? With the ever-gracious help of Moroccans like Mohammad and Asma, I set up 6 seating areas in the living/dining room and two in the guest room. The girls set their own table for 10 kids in their bedroom. The issue wasn't just numbers. It was 'cooking units' as we call them. Families who can cook vs. the students who can't. So several of us 'cooking units' went into high/hyper gear and baked/cooked the days away. More turkeys were ordered from the university food service.

Thursday came. The 'cooking units' arrived. Things looked good. Then the bus came. Yes, a bus. It stopped near our apartment and I watched mostly American exchange students pour off the bus. All headed to our house. Thirty of them. It was like a scary dream that I couldn't wake myself from.

But amazingly, miraculously - it ended up being a good dream. We fit 55 - 60 people in our home. And it didn't feel crowded. And we had plenty of food. The students ate and ate and ate. They were so happy to be in a home. Gerald set up the computer for them to watch the football game which made them even happier.

What did we learn? Since almost no one here has 'family' we are each other's family. We can't have a small celebration. That would be like having a family reunion and not inviting everyone. What will we do next year? We have no idea. But we sure had fun this year!

Spain

Independence Day and Eid came at about the same time so we had a long weekend right before Thanksgivng. For the first time since we've been here, we took advantage of the cheap flights from Morocco to Europe (some friends of ours went to Rome for $10.00 a ticket) and went to Seville, Spain. The tower of gold - built by the Muslims then later used to store gold from the Amercias. Seville's wealth came largely from the discovery of the New World and reminders of that were everywhere. Both Magellan and Columbus sailed out of Seville. It was fun imagining the departure of those voyages with people probably watching the banks of the river thinking these guys were insane!

One of the most bizarre things I've seen - a Muslim minaret topped with a Christian bell tower. The Moors (north African Muslims) conquered and ruled Spain for 800 years. As the "Christians" reconquered the land, the Muslims were driven back out. Their mosques were destroyed and in their places were built Cathedrals. This minaret was kept, however, and topped with a bell tower to go with the cathedral! The muzzein who led the Muslim call to prayers aparently was too old to climb stairs, so they made ramps inside to get to the top so he could ride on a horse. The girls loved running up the 30+ floors to get to the top!

Seville is famous for its flamenco dancing started by the gypsies years ago. We were not able to get to any shows, but did get in half price at this museum because we looked so miserable after walking in the rain for hours!

The cathedral that goes with the tower earlier. This is the third-largest cathedral in the world. The ceilings are 56 meters high and multiple chaples, an entire church, a huge choir room, organ, an enormous altar, soaring artwork, the body of Christopher Columbus, etc. are all inside this building.

The Seville bull ring. Thankfully this is the only 'fight' we saw! In case you're wondering - yes, they do always kill the bull but make him last as long as they can for entertainment before the last plunge of the spear. The matadors etc. are rarely killed, but often hurt. We decided seeing pictures was as close as we wanted to get!

Espana Square - so much beautiful artwork, tiling, and mosaics!

We took a day trip by bus to the fascinating city of Ronda - perched on the edges of cliffs and held together by this bridge. The Romans, Moors, Spaniards and many others all came through here and left their mark, although it was hard to conquer because of its location. (There are so many mentions of the Roman empire in Spain that Kendra finally asked, "Are we in Rome?") On the other side of the bridge, the Moors made an amazing system of caves and stairs for slaves to go all the way down to the water and bring it up multiple times a day. The Moors were driven out because the Spaniards cut off the water supply.

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As much as I loved seeing Seville, it's hard to face the reality of how much killing was done there in Christ's name. The gold from the Spanish conquests of the Americas covers the insides of cathedrals. The Spanish Inquisition drove out or killed thousands and thousands of Jews, Muslims, and Protestants to 'purify' the country. All this killing and looting was done with the cross on their shields and with the blessing of the church. But in reality, it was not Christ who drove this, but rather the quest for power and wealth.

This summer I noticed a lot of fear in the States regarding the Muslim world. What occured to me in Spain is that there was a time in history when much of the world lived in terror of Christians. North America, South America, Africa, and much of Asia were either conquered or colonized by "Christian" nations.

I have to keep in mind here that often when Muslims look at us, they do not know that we come from a peaceful branch of Christianity that broke off from this frenzy. They do not know we were persecuted at the same time they were. And although this all seems like ancient history to us, the conquests and the crusades are, believe it or not, rather fresh here. Many of Morocco's cities were established by people fleeing the inquisition.

So what do we do? Do we say that was not Christianity? Do we say that those people thought they were doing the right thing, but we feel differently? We get so frustrated with Muslims here who say Pakistanis and Afghanis are not Muslims because of their fanatical Islam. We want them to claim these countries as Islamic and deal with the violence that is in their religion. But are we ready to deal with the violence and abuse that has come out of Christianity? Do we have to apologize for what others did before us? Do we even have to claim it? How do we move forward from here? How can we speak of and live Christ's way - that of love, forgiveness, and truth - while those around us have barriers in their minds that have existed for centuries?

Thankfully, that is not up to us! We cannot change the past. But we can follow and be faithful.

And that is where the hope comes in. Even Spain, once bathed in blood, now allows Jews, Protestants, and Muslims to walk its streets and sit in the reverent silence of its cathedrals.