Little reflections, from Lindsay

Why does it matter if Jesus came back to life again? 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.   And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.   More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.   For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.   And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins .   Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.   If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied . Coming up to Easter, I have been thinking about whether the resurrection is really important. I believe Jesus took into himself every single sin that every believer has ever done and will do, and he took up...

As people living and working in Syria for a Humanitarian Organisation, we have key principles around neutrality and impartiality. We do not favour (or reject) anyone based on any difference in culture, background, or belief etc. And we do not share any opinions on how we think our host country should be run. We do not showcase any beliefs, and we do not ask anyone to think as we do. This is super-important, because it means we are not asking anyone to say or do the 'right' thing to feel they have earnt our assistance.  But it also means that as Christians, we do not look for opportunities to talk about our faith even with our colleagues, most of whom are Muslims. It could damage our reputation as an impartial provider of aid and employer if we suggested or imposed any level of Christian practice or belief upon colleagues and those we serve.  However, if somebody comes to us to ask questions about our personal beliefs , we can talk! And this is what happened this week. One of t...

A couple of years ago, my friend finished a job she had been in for years. She was burned out, in need of a break, and wanted a new challenge. She sought out a Career Coach (Penny) to help her revisit her skills and preferences for work, and it resulted in a job she really enjoyed. It was also a job she would never have applied for without these sessions.  Her story has stayed with me, and I contacted Penny for an initial session last year. She gave me some good things to think about, helping me to think about shaping my current role to be a better fit, and to think about kind of job I would like to get in the future. And a few months ago, I signed up to do a series of sessions.  The first tasks involved an online questionnaire, and completing a number of tasks to help me understand how I prefer to work. The questionnaire resulted in a Personality Profile, most of which rang completely true. Reading it helped to unlock some realisations around where my abilities lie, where the...

Last Sunday, our pastor presented a question:   If you could summarise in a pie chart what you  think about , then what size slice would be dedicated to the Lord? The initial reaction was ‘not much’! Because the amount of time each day that is spent   only  thinking about the Lord feels like about 5 minutes… however, on reflection, if the pie chart was a Venn diagram, it may be easier! Because thoughts overlap. However, the challenge was useful to reflect on my current dominant focus. Is it on my feelings? Yes. Do these thoughts overlap with prayer to God? Yes, quite a lot. But there is always room to grow.   A well-worn path (e.g. Hierarchy of Need, Blooming marvellous break posts), but refreshed for today’s musing: Here in Syria, some of the needs of my soul are not met in the way that they are in ‘normal’ life at home. The result is that my thought life is operating along a narrow path. The mental freedom that usually allows me to think about lots of other th...

Ramadan has started for my Muslim colleagues in Syria. They fast from food and drink during the day, and eat in the evening and then again early in the morning (if they want to). It falls at a good time of year this time – the days are not too long or hot, but it is still challenging. The reasons for the fast are all good. Praying more and drawing closer to God, spending more time at the Mosque, practicing generosity and hospitality, and working towards being the best version of themselves. It is also the time where they remember the Qur’an being given to Muhammad. What is good about Ramadan is the additional attention given by believers to their faith in God. I can see people breaking at prayer times to stop and pray. And each morning I am regaled with what was eaten the previous night, with great enthusiasm! Many people invite family and friends over for the evening meal, breaking the fast together. As a Christian, fasting is part of the traditions of my faith, but it is not a common...

One of the costs of working Sunday–Thursday is the loss of ‘that Sunday feeling’. Sundays usually involve preparing to go to church, to give myself out to God, to receive His love and lesson, and to see friends. It has been part of my life all my life, and despite still retaining 2 days off for the weekend, there is no substitute to church. We can ‘watch’ the church service at home, but it is not the same. We can text friends or even schedule a call, but it is not the same. And this loss changes the whole experience of the weekend. A weekly church service lends the unique and necessary invitation to give out to God – praise, requests, needs. This externalising alters the soul and aligns us back with faith in the nature and greatness of God. And it is not easy to do all this from the living room! There is something about coming together with others to share songs of love and faith to God. As you join in the song, you are swept into the greater experience. Singing and praying alone at ho...

He rules over the nations, Psalm 22:28   Knowing the Sovereignty of God, and His wisdom in history can be theoretically faith-building, and yet experientially very tricky in a country like Syria. At home, life is fairly well organised, and while there is poverty and a good deal of suffering, it looks different to the suffering here. Praying for the blessing of God to be manifest in individual lives, and the country as a whole feels easy at home. Prayers are regularly answered, people are healed, others come to faith in Jesus, and life is made better by Christian friends and community in and out of my life constantly.   But here, there are some significant challenges to praying for God to make a difference because it is hard to believe that this land can recover, turn around, and grow in a positive way. When you look around great parts of Aleppo, you can see destroyed buildings which were once homes and rubble-strewn streets which used to be the playground of young children. Th...

I have never before encountered a place where there is so much gossip as in Syria! Sure, we have all said something negative about someone out of their earshot before. It is normal. But in Syria, it is likely that those words are passed on to their subject. It is considered an act of honesty – to retell words spoken, as a disclosure to the subject, or in general to others. I have had a few people come to me at work to tell me something that they have heard a colleague say, either about me, or about someone else. They believe that they are doing me a service in this – it is an honourable act, and it frees them from any involvement. It is a way of building trust in them, because I know they will tell me some news about myself or others if they hear it. This feels different to the etiquette at home whereby people (in the main) don’t relay gossip so much. It may be considered rude or emotionally immature to relay what someone else says, or even an attempt to increase status through the pub...

One of the starkest differences between life in Syria and life in the UK is around hospitality and generosity. ‘Going Dutch’ is fairly standard in the UK – which means that you split a bill in a restaurant, or pay for yourself. And a gift received is quickly reciprocated of the same value – so that there is no ‘debt’. Needless to say, Brits are pretty far down the stingy end of the generosity spectrum! We like to break even – giving and receiving in equal measure. And we absolutely hate to lose money or feel hard done by… Money has significant value beyond what it can buy – it is sensitive, and is unconsciously measured.   Syrians are fairly high up the other end of the generosity spectrum. When we first arrived, we were invited out to dinner or drinks or ice cream several times, and we were unable to offer money to pay for anything. We tried to reason with our hosts, to argue with them, to force money on them, but alas. The almost desperate need to pay equally (a value to me)...