What we accomplished in Cairo - II

The second big thing we accomplished in Cairo is teaching and imparting. They are related, but not necessarily the same thing. As I mentioned earlier, Brian taught at the weekend services and we all taught classes at a worship conference. Brian taught on songwriting and worship. The band together, along with Terry our sound man, gave a workshop on rehearsing and playing together. We stressed the principle of One -- everything should add up to One. Too often we play like each one of us is a One and we add up to Four or Five or Six. That's a recipe for overplaying and carnage. It's essential to listen, to prefer one another, and to play together as part of a greater One. Then we broke up into smaller classes on our individual instruments, or in my case improvisation. Hopefully we gave them a lot of useful information and some fresh inspiration for the way forward.

In his teaching for the weekend worship services, Brian taught on God meeting us in and taking us through difficulties. David says in Psalm 23 that the Lord makes a table for us in the presence of our enemies and that He's with us in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Bummer.
I'd rather have the table in the presence of friends and admirers. And most of us would rather walk around the Valley and have God meet us on the other side. But life isn't like that, is it. And though we all have difficult things in life -- loss, illness, tragedy, broken relationship, financial hardship, etc -- all too often we are not able to bring our whole hearts to church, lest we threaten the collective denial that being a Christian saves us from all problems and guarantees a perfectly happy life all the time. The Bible, and the Psalms in particular paint a very different picture where godly people struggle with all of their lives before God.

Maddi Church lost their beloved senior Pastor in a tragic accident. His wife lost her husband of 30 years. Many lost a dear friend. There is no getting over that quickly. Brian has three special needs children with Fragile-X syndrome. That's part of his life from now 'till Glory. There is no easy fix -- there is walking with God in it every day. We all have stories of our own. Church should be a safe place for us to bring all of our life to the Lord -- grief included. We need some place that's safe, and God wants all of our heart, so...

What we accomplished in Cairo - I

OK, so -- we went to Egypt and played music and saw the Pyramids. But what did we accomplish and what lasting fruit did we leave behind?

As I see it, we went to do three main things: Minister to Maadi Church, especially after the loss of their Pastor David Petrescue. We lead worship for the three main weekend services, and Brian spoke on God's faithfulness in the midst of difficulty and tragedy. Brian's song "Your Faithfulness" has been especially meaningful to many in the church and David's family. We played it at all three services and there were few dry eyes in the house.

But along with the tragic loss of their beloved head Pastor, life in Cairo for expatriates is not always easy. They're away from home, living in a very different culture in a crowded, chaotic city. Add to that being a religious minority with a certain level of governmental resistance. So while most of them love it on many levels, it can take a toll as well. They just needed a good dose of fresh worship, and we gave them that. Here's an email quote from one of the expats there:

"You guys absolutely rocked Maadi and we needed it. Thanks for your ministry of exceptional music. We will be talking about last weekend for a long time.....until you come again!"

He's referring to our Sunday night concert as well as the three weekend services. I'll have more to say about that later. But we did accomplish our first main objective -- ministering in worship to Maadi Church, Cairo.

Cairo Concert Picture

Here's a shot from the outdoor concert in Cairo. You can see the crowd in jubilant worship up front, and in the far distance you can see people watching and listening from their apartment windows. I wonder what they were thinking, and if they had ever felt the sweet presence of the Lord like that.

Trachselwald

I will be adding some entries about our time in Trachselwald at the Swiss/Anabaptist reconciliation event. It was difficult to get net access at the time, so I will reporting on that now that I'm back in Switzerland. Stay tuned.

Switzerland is about as different from Egypt as could possibly be. It's green, cool, clean, rainy -- and they have traffic laws. Cairo has 20 Million people -- and three traffic lights. Traffic is a complete free-for-all -- it's mayhem. The only real rule is that there are no real rules. But somehow it all works.

Switzerland is -- well -- just about opposite in every way. I will have more to say on the very important events at Trachselwald soon.

J

On our way

We're at the airport -- waiting for the flight back to Zurich. It's been an amazing time! This is among the most meaningful ministry trips I've ever been a part of. It's difficult to describe, but God's grace has been overwhelming. Our hosts at Maadi Church have been unbelievable in taking care of us. And it feels that we accomplished a lot more in the spirit than just playing a concert. A tremendous amount of ministry happened -- to all of us.

Arabs, Muslims, Coca-Cola.

I have to admit it, I was a but nervous about coming here. I'm an American with a Jewish last name (no I'm not, but my Pediatrician sure was) and we all know about what's gone on over the last 6 years and more. So as visiting an Arab/Muslim nation was something of a challenge. But I'll admit this now -- I've come to like them.

They are warm, friendly people -- even funny at times. I had to get past seeing them as the "other" -- to get past how I've seen them since 9/11 and before. The vast majority are sincerely living their lives the way they think God wants them to, and most genuinely like Americans, along with everyone else. I don't understand their culture and they don't understand mine. But at the end of the day they're more people Christ died for to redeem out of Adam's fallen race.

And before I go any farther, Arabs and Muslims are not the same thing. Most Arabs are Muslims, but most Muslims are not Arabs. Most are to the East of here, in Iran, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Indonesia, etc. And there are plenty of Arab Christians here since the first century AD -- more on that later.

And while the West and the Arab world have tended to be on each other's periphery all this time, there's been a lot more sharing of ideas and culture than we may think. Many, if not most, of our musical instruments descend from Arab roots, like the guitar and the violin. So what does this have to do with Coke?

Islam came to seriously limit if not forbid artistic depictions of images -- taking God's command against making a graven image to the hilt. So the Arabic Muslim world's artistic drive went into decoration - hence the elaborately decorated Mosques. Europeans came up with a word for something fancy or decorous -- Arabesque -- meaning Arab-like. And since they copied the Koran by hand, a great deal of their artistic drive went into Calligraphy of their flowing script. They became masters of it. So did we. We wrote everything by hand as well for a great long while, including the Bible and everything else -- books, official documents, letters, etc. So we had highly developed, beautiful calligraphy of our own. But we may well have learned a lot from them, or we both learned from each other.

I don't know anything about the history of Calligraphy in the West, but something struck me as I was looking at a can of Coke. It's always interesting to see this quintessential American product all over the world and to see how it looks in a foreign language. I couldn't help but notice that the Arabic word for Coke bears more than a passing resemblance to the fancy scripted logo we all know. I have to wonder if the Coca-Cola script logo doesn't owe something to Arabic calligraphy a long while back, especially the ornate letter C. Have a look for yourself. I'm not saying the way to world peace is through Coke or Calligraphy -- but understanding that we have more in common than we may think can't hurt.

We all seem to love Coke -- that's something. And God loves all of us -- that's the Real Thing.

Anthony

During the intermission last night a young American named Anthony approached me and asked if he could speak to Brian. He was deeply moved and wanted to express his appreciation. He's a US Marine from Washington DC on special assignment at the US Embassy in Cairo. He's Baptist, but hasn't been to church in over a year for "more reasons than one." But he's friends with people at Maadi Church and came to the concert. The Lord got a hold of him and touched him. It's amazing that God would bring us from the West Coast of North America halfway around the world and use us to minister to a US Marine from DC, but that's how He rolls sometimes. Be praying for him -- especially that he gets a revelation of God's grace.

PS -- No, those light blobs are not angels, they are reflections of the dozens of bright stage lights striking the camera lens from the sides. Don't make me come down there...

Under the Cairo Moon

Wow -- we just played a 2 hour outdoor worship concert for over 1,000 people on a softball field in Maadi -- right across from an influential radical Mosque -- during Ramadan. It was one best concerts of my life! It was possibly the most appreciated. We had many coming up and hugging us and thanking us afterwards -- asking us to please come back soon. I don't know if they had heard much like it before.

The radical Imam didn't like it -- right after we started he responded with long and loud calls to prayer and readings from the Koran, even though it was long after the last prayer time. The locals said they had never heard anything like it. Our sound system was louder than his, so it wasn't too much of a distraction, but it felt like dueling banjos. He finally stopped during our intermission and went home, so we had the second half all to ourselves.

A big part of the crowd were the greater Maadi community expatriates. But an equal part were Egyptian locals, and lots of them came up close to the front. I was playing more for them -- and the people in the windows. There are apartment buildings behind the softball field and we could see lots of people watching from their windows. They must have wondered what in the world this was. But they stayed in their windows.

On the spiritual side, I was expecting more of a clash. But the Lord's presence came more as sweetness, freedom, openness and light than conflict. Something about the local religion is hard, heavy, cold -- like stone. The contrast was clear, and I loved seeing the Egyptian locals dancing up front in delight and the others watching from their windows. I wonder how this will impact them. I certainly feel that we opened a window -- at least for a while.

More Pictures

Teaching

Today is our big day. We have a big outdoor concert this evening on the Rugby Pitch in Maadi, not far from the church. But that’s tonight. We spent the morning teaching -- imparting whatever we have to Maadi and other local church worship teams. We had a group of 60 or so for two main sessions on worship in general and worship bands in specific. Then each of us taught small classes. My subject this time was improvising. I had a massive crowd of two people – a woman from South African and another from Holland. Improvising is a difficult topic to teach in one hour, but I gave them a few basic principals on how to play with a chord progression and make it interesting. I will spare you the musical details and concepts, but it was a fruitful time and I hope I opened some new doors that will take their playing and the worship in Maadi church a bit further.

The main idea is that we are here to serve and minister to this community of believers, not just to do a concert and split. Even this evening’s concert is not about us getting famous in Egypt. It’s about us serving, imparting, planting, watering and above all worshipping Christ – the ultimate servant.

Services at Maddi

We led worship for the two morning services today -- wonderful time! This is the most ethnically diverse congregation I've ever had the privilege of helping lead in worship. There are people here from all over the world, literally. There are a few Egyptians, but the large majority are expatriates from everywhere at a large number of Sub-Saharan Africans. A lot from Sudan, and refugees from Darfur and elsewhere.

The expats. are from all over. Maadi is the happening English speaking church in Cairo, so a big number of the English speakers come here, including a lot of Catholics. There are over 50 denominations represented. A lot come from the UK and the US. But I've met people from Korea, China, Australia, Peru, Venezuela, Holland, South Africa, Eritrea, India, Greece and Canada. It's truly every tribe and tongue. It's exciting. It's a preview.

Morning services today!

It's Friday morning -- we're heading off to the church for the two main morning services. I'm really looking forward to seeing the whole church together. They have about 1,500 in cell groups that meet during the week -- we will see how many are here today.

In other news, our drummer, Eran, got sick last evening and couldn't play. Maadi Church's worship Pastor Mark filled in. Mark did a perfect job by playing well while making us miss our regular drummer.

Eran is OK now, but apparently he got "Pharaoh's Revenge" from some uncooked beets. Glad to have him back.

I will let you know how it goes.

Some pictures

First Worship Service in Cairo

We just had our first worship service at Maadi Church this evening -- it's Thursday here, and that's when the Muslim holy day begins. Tomorrow is the big day for worship, but like in Judaism, the holy day begins at sundown. And since we're in a Muslim nation, we follow their pattern. When in Rome...

Services are held in a semi-outdoor space with a tarp roof and walls, but a large opening between the walls and the roof -- and lots of fans running to keep heat bearable. We had about 250 this evening. Tomorrow morning we expect a lot more between the two services.

The mood seemed a bit sedate at first, but sincere. They are still grieving the loss of their beloved Pastor last year. We heard a brief update on the search for a new Pastor - they hope to have someone in place by summer.

After a short worship set Brian talked for 15 minutes or so on how the Lord is our Shepherd, leads us to green pastures and makes a table for us in the presence of our enemies. The problem for us is that He doesn't always choose the green pastures we want or set our table the way we want it. And He often makes a place for us in the midst of our troubles, rather than taking them from us. There's that bit about Him being with us in the valley of the shadow of death. We would rather walk around the valley and have Him meet us on the other side.

But that's not always how life works, is it. We all have our valleys. Sometimes it's the valley of the shadow of death. But the good news -- the Gospel -- it that it's only the shadow of death, not death itself. Even when it's our time to die. "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."

We saw the Pyramids today. They are simply tombs of Kings who thought they could take it all with them -- their wealth, their servants, everything. But the grave robbers got all their cool stuff centuries ago. Even their mummies are long gone. All that's left is their astounding tombs.

They hoped the gods would see their good works and let them into paradise. Problem is, how good do you have to be? We're all a mix of good and bad, and it seems our fallen race's default mode is bad, doesn't it? So even if you have an astounding tomb and you were a Pharaoh, were you good enough? All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and our righteousness in like filthy rags. So how many filthy rags do you need to get into paradise?

Fortunately for us, the Pharaohs weren't the only Kings to visit Egypt. When the Great Pyramids were some 2,600 years old, the King of Kings and the Pharaoh of Pharaohs lived there for a few years. He was just a child and nobody had any idea who He was, save His parents. I wonder what He thought of these monuments. I think they grieved Him deeply -- all that work to bury one dead guy whose sin nature had doomed any hope of paradise. But I doubt the contrast was lost on Him. Here were the ancient, even in Jesus' day, monuments to one man's quest for heaven, who thought he could get there through having an entire nation serve Him -- and didn't make it.

And here was Christ, who came not as the great King He is, but as a child, and as a servant. Who took the lowest place in all the world -- nailed to a savage cross for all the sins of mankind from long before the Pharaohs 'till long after us to give all who believe in Him eternal life - for FREE. The great Pharaoh used a whole nation to save himself, and failed. But the true King gave Himself to save a whole world. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord."

May His Kingdom come.

Isaiah 19:19-25

We're here to minister with, and to minister to Maadi Church, one of the largest and most influential churches in the Middle East. Most of their members are expatriate English speakers from the US and the UK and a huge number of Sub-Saharan Africans. They lost their Pastor a year ago in a tragic accident. We will be leading worship for their normal Thursday evening and Friday morning services -- that's right, Friday in the Islamic world. And in addition, we will be doing a big outdoor worship concert, something unusual in the Muslin world, especially during Ramadan. I get goosebumps when I think of worshiping the Lord in front of many hundreds, outdoors in Egypt!

This passage in Isaiah 19 is a key motivator for Maadi church, and to us as well. It's hard to say exactly how this will be fulfilled, but it does reveal God's heart of love and grace for the Middle East.

"In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."

Cairo!

Through the wonders of modern air travel, I've come today from Zurich, Switzerland, to an utterly different world -- Cairo. It's difficult to imagine two more different places and cultures. We spent yesterday seeing important Christian sites in Zurich -- including Zwingli's Church and the place where Anabaptists were drowned in the Zurich river -- under a cold, rainy sky. I marvel at how well organized, efficiently run and clean Switzerland is -- and how spiritually sterile it can seem. Yet new life is sprouting and God is stirring up the ancient wells.

This morning we boarded a half-full Airbus 340 and after less than 4 hours we touched down on the other side of the Mediterranean -- it might as well be the other side of the planet. It's warm, dry, dusty, smoggy, crowded, chaotic and -- well, the opposite of Switzerland.

I had a window seat and was hoping I was on the right side. I was -- the right side being the left. I mean the right side to see the Pyramids. As we made our approach into Cairo airport, suddenly they were just there out my window, just like we've seen them in pictures all our lives. It's striking how close to the city and the green zone near the Nile they are -- literally right on the edge of the town.

As we flew over the Nile I kept wondering where exactly Jesus might have been with his parents - and where exactly was Moses in the basket. They were actually here - I've never been to a place where major events of the Bible happened and important people actually lived. But there were the Pyramids that were already 2,500 years old when Jesus was here. And there was the Nile. If the Pyramids are ancient, the Nile is virtually eternal. And from my window in the sky I could so clearly see how all of life depends on this thin strip of water flowing through this extreme, bleak desert.

The other thing I noticed were all the Minarets -- the towers at every Mosque from where the faithful are called to prayer. There are Mosques everywhere. So here from my airplane window I could see the ancient Pryamids, the eternal Nile, and somewhere in my view places where Moses, the Children of Israel and Jesus, our Prophet Priest and King actually lived. And the Mosques -- everywhere the Mosques.

We left the airport right in time to get caught in the traffic crunch as everyone rushes home to eat. It's Ramadan - the Islamic holy month were Muslims fast from food and water from dawn to dusk - and make up for it in the evening.

I can shake the feeling that I'm very close to the source - in more ways than one. God is on the move here too. More on that later. Tomorrow we see the Pyramids and lead worship for the evening service. Tonight we sleep.