December 20, 2002

Catholic Mass by candlelight in Zababdeh.

In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches there are daily prayers - in the Orthodox, twice a day (morning and evening); in the Roman Catholic, it's a daily Mass. Throughout Advent, Fr. Aktham has been preaching on a variety of topics related to Christmas - the shepherds, Herod, Elizabeth, Zacharias. On Wednesday, Deacon Homam preached on the Magi. Yesterday, Fr. Firas gave a homily on Mary.

Today, Marthame was invited to preach about Simeon (Luke 3), the old man who was waiting for the promise of the Messiah so he could "part in peace." He's not at the point linguistically where he could preach in Arabic, so Marthame worked with Deacon Homam on the translation.

Marthame preaching by candlelight.

Part way into the service, the electricity cut out - frustrations with the local grid continue - so Marthame and Homam preached by candlelight. After church, Fr. Aktham joked that God was angry that a Protestant was going to preach and didn't want to hear Marthame's voice. Ah, ecumenism!

Meanwhile, the well has been filled - but the pump is broken. Water, water everywhere...