April 12, 2006
by Nuhad Tomeh
PC(USA) Regional Liaison
Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the Gulf

AMMAN, JORDAN – Lenten greetings from the Middle East.

I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.' My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. (Psalm 31: 14-15)

Last year about this time, Alexa Smith of the Presbyterian News Service was here in Amman to write about Iraqi Christians who came to Jordan as refugees, seeking security and a safe place, leaving behind their families, friends and homes, hoping for a better future.

Not only Christians came, but also Muslims.

Some are well-off and can rent or buy new homes, but the majority are needy. Many were allowed to enter Jordan, but others were stranded on the Iraq-Jordan border. The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) has started a program to help those on the borders because they are the most unfortunate.

Until this month, MECC was able, through ACT International – Action by Churches Together, a relief agency related to the World Council of Churches – to provide food and non-food items to these refugees. Unfortunately, the is ending due to a shortage of funds.

I am here in Amman as the coordinator of the MECC Ecumenical Relief Service program. I am working with MECC staff to find ways to continue this program and especially to help the children in this camp. Of 700 persons, almost 300 are children between the ages of 5 and 18.

After three years, there is now hope that they may be resettled in another country. Pray with us that this will happen soon.

MECC in Amman is also working with Iraqi Christians in Jordan who have desperate needs, including food, clothing, rent, health care, and education for their children. MECC was able to get funding from a Christian agency to support them.

Several churches in Amman are ministering to these Iraqis, but their resources are very limited and diminishing. I worshipped with them at one of the churches and was very much impressed by the number of people. The church was full, and people were standing outside – more than 300 persons gathered in a small chapel. They were all singing and praising God in Aramaic, the language our Lord spoke. Most Iraqis Christian still speak Aramaic.

I did not understand the language (although it is similar to Arabic, my native language), but I felt the spirit working in the lives of those people. I thought they would be depressed, frustrated, or angry at God, since they have been waiting for years for peace and security to be restored in their country.

If they cannot go back, they at least deserve a better life, either in Jordan or in another country. Most of them would like to emigrate and start a new life for their children in another country. I myself was challenged by their faith, their joy, and their trust that God will not leave them. I learned as I talked to some of them that their faith and belief is stronger than despair, and their hope is stronger then depression.

They believe that the words of the prophet Jeremiah are alive: "Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted, by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit." – Jeremiah, 17: 7-8

As we go together through this Lenten season, let us fast and pray over Psalm 31 for Iraqi Christians and others – that they may experience the resurrection after all their suffering.

This is the story of the Iraqi Christian refugees in Jordan (there are at least 10,000). There are also many others in Syria, Lebanon, and other surrounding countries.

May the Lord of us all, the One who went through all the suffering, put an end to the suffering of the Iraqis.

Information about and letters from Presbyterian missionaries serving around the world are available at http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/.

Presbyterian News Service