The second half

We have now passed the ‘half-way’ mark here in Izmir: four Sundays left before we return to England. It will be strange to worship in a church where everyone is British, and no longer to be saying ‘It’s only 33 C today’ (it was 40 yesterday at 6 pm.)

We had a rare treat on Saturday, when the Turkish-speaking church had organised a praise concert in St John’s with Graham Kendrick (whose songs are very popular here.) We’d never seen him before, and it was great to hear him lead a packed church in mostly ‘golden oldies’ – but also to lead prayer and worship with sensitivity. We were afraid our Sunday morning service with 20 people and a music group of pianist and two violinists might feel an anti-climax, but – whilst it was very different – it was also a good experience. But we will long remember the enthusiasm and joy with which the Saturday evening congregation sang ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine’ (in Turkish.)

Although the Anglican congregation is small, it has an important role to play, we believe. Its (very English) church building is (as we have said before) in a visible and prominent position, and is a resource for a number of smaller Turkish evangelical churches, for weddings and events like the Kendrick service. With more effort, there must be opportunities of contacting many more English speakers in Izmir, with its industries, universities and NATO base. It could also appeal to those (English and Turkish) who value a more liturgical and sacramental approach to worship.  Finally, it is close to the busy port, with all the possibilities of developing ministry to the seafarers.

Certainly continuing prayer for Turkey is needed, as there is a lot of anxiety beneath the surface. Many are concerned about the apparent enthusiasm with which military, judicial and educational establishments are being ‘cleansed’, and there is much uncertainty about what the shape of future political developments will be. Two of the three English language newspapers we have found seem to follow the official line unquestioningly, so it is hard to find out what is really happening. We have both received SMS texts on our mobile phones from the ruling AK Party over the (nationalised) phone network, calling for ‘support for democracy’; every evening there are public gatherings in Konak Square, where the Town Hall is festooned with national flags and huge banners depicting the President alongside the great Atatürk. Otherwise, Izmir has been very calm and safe.

We have continued to explore the area a little. On Thursday, we took suburban train and bus to Foҫa, a sea port in a lovely setting, some 90 kms to the north-east. This is the site of ancient Phocaea, whose sailors explored the whole Mediterranean, founding colonies, of which the best-known is Marseilles. It’s a pretty town, but not much of the old city remains – apart from a Byzantine/Ottoman fort, and the ruins of Temples of Cybele and Athena. These are being excavated and restored, so are currently closed to the public; but one of Jo’s former pupils had friends working there who kindly met us and took us into the compound. It’s another example of the helpfulness and courtesy of Turkish people. We were delighted to be called a ‘cute couple’ by the girl who showed us round. Previously, meeting Jo’s pupil, her boyfriend had said he would like to be like us when he was old! So we feel good about ourselves.

Another day, we also found the Botanical Garden attached to Ege University – though (not untypically) there were no signposts from the metro, and no notice on the entrance. Without two helpful security guards, who left their posts to point us in the right direction, we would never have found it. Not quite up to Kew Gardens standards, it was still attractive and interesting.

Prayer Points:

1. Please continue to pray for Turkey, and for wise government following the attempted coup.

2. Pray for the church, for the right appointment of a new chaplain, to develop its outreach and improve pastoral care.

3.  Pray for the refugees and asylum seekers, that they will find permanent homes.

4.  For us, that we may use the rest of our time here in a fruitful way.

Jo’s post-script

One of the many pleasures I receive from sharing in Michael’s locum posts is the way we experience, even if only briefly, the life of the local community: not only through worship, pastoral work and church life, but also some of the everyday happenings. Our experiences in French and German chaplaincies have been close to UK life, but things have been a bit more distinctive, the further east we have gone.

So, in Corfu we had to collect drinkable water from public taps near the church, and we soon got used to bagging up all refuse – including used toilet paper – and adding that to the overflowing bins on the roadside. We also became accustomed to the constantly growing population of stray cats that frequented these.

Here in Turkey, drinking water is obtained, either by adding purifying tablets to tap water, or by ordering 25 litre containers of water from a local supplier – though we still haven’t worked out how the telephone ordering system works and we end up going to the depot and showing them our address. Fortunately our sixth-floor flat is served by a lift – except when the electricity is cut. This has happened twice – once because a bill had not been paid, though at least then we had lights and air-conditioning in the flat. After the second cut, when we had no power at all and which lasted two hours, we discovered that this is a regular occurrence in Turkey. So now we know. But going up and down steep winding stairs in total darkness is no fun.

A small job I have given myself is to occasionally sweep the entrance hall, when the accumulation of dried leaves, dust, handbills and dead cockroaches gets too much for me. This gets added to our plastic bags of rubbish which I take to the nearby bins. At least these are emptied daily, by a man who has one of the most horrendous jobs I have seen – sorting out all this rubbish by hand, so that the many plastic bottles, beer cans and cardboard are placed in separate containers on his hand-cart. He is always surprised, and pleased, when we greet him with ‘günaydın’ (good morning).

Then, there are the tranquil stray dogs, which have been ‘de-masculinised’ and spend their days mostly sleeping in the heat on the grass of the Kordon (promenade); when we walk there before breakfast we also see men fishing hopefully – and often catching little except plastic bags (of which there are far too many, with other refuse, in the sea.) We also see people (presumably refugees from Syria or Iraq) sleeping out on benches or on the grass. In the morning, we see the occasional runners and cyclists; in the evening, it is thronged with people walking and taking selfies against the background of the sun setting behind the Aegean.

Another week in Izmir

For the second time since we arrived here, we have received concerned text messages and postings on Facebook – often the first way we get news, as the flat lacks TV or wi-fi. (We are touched by the concern many have shown us.) The attempted coup last Friday night seems not to have touched Izmir at all – but many church members are concerned about what happened, and its implications for the future direction of Turkish politics. We are poorly informed in the UK about the complexities of Turkey and its neighbours, and I won’t attempt a simplistic analysis. The dreadful attack in Nice on Bastille Day will have made more impact back home, though the death toll in Istanbul and Ankara was more than double that in Nice, and some of the victims seem to have been young conscripts drawn into conflict in the belief that it was a military exercise. One of Jo’s former pupils lives in Ankara near the parliament buildings and reported that she had spent a terrible night, with bombings and gunfire nearby. The country is certainly seriously divided, and there is no shortage of conspiracy theories.

We had a slightly depleted congregation on Sunday morning, but the worship went well. We are being helped by a young Turkish pianist from another church, who has offered to play for our services when he is free. During the week, we had eight people at the Tuesday afternoon Evening Prayer, and nine at the Wednesday Bible Study; the latter is interesting, in that five different first languages were represented, and prayers offered in three of these. In discussion afterwards, our Kenyan Christian bewailed the ‘staidness’ of the worship at St John’s, and the shortage of activities during the week.

We continue to use our free time to explore and experience life here. We managed to master the rail system sufficiently to get ourselves to Selҫuk, where we visited the splendid Ephesus museum. We also discovered the remains of the great Temple of Artemis (a solitary column in a swamp, complete with stork’s nest on top; the town has many such nests, especially on the top of the pillars of the Romano-Byzantine aqueducts.) We walked up to the great Ottoman citadel and the Byzantine Basilica of St John (the reputed site of the apostle’s grave). A helpful taxi driver took us to the House of the Virgin Mary, which was surprisingly quiet and peaceful, and in a splendid site up in the hills overlooking the Aegean.

Another afternoon’s walk round Izmir led us to St Polycarp’s church – the oldest in Izmir (c. 1625), a rather splendid baroque building, dedicated to Izmir’s patron saint, martyred in the stadium in 155. The church was originally built for the French community in the city, and is the now the home of the RC Bishop. We were pleased to see that St John’s church was listed in their leaflet. We curtailed our plans for Saturday, but disregarded Foreign Office advice to stay indoors following the attempted coup. Instead we walked through (a slightly quieter than usual) Izmir, to the Kültürpark (site of the former Armenian district destroyed in the 1922 fire), which is peaceful and green. We went to the city’s Art and History Museum – a collection of Greco-Roman statues, ceramics from the Stone Age onwards, coins and jewellery. It’s a fine museum, so it was rather bizarre that we were the only visitors that morning – but then Izmir doesn’t promote its treasures very well.

We are approaching the midpoint of our time here. We are struck by the helpfulness and courtesy of local people; we seldom have to stand on public transport (even when it is as crowded as the train from Selҫuk.) We are enjoying sharing in the life of the church, though numbers are on the low side, as some expatriates are away for the summer. We pray that they will not have to wait long for a new chaplain, as there is need for some clear vision for growth and development.

Prayer Points:

1.      For the people of Turkey, their government and politicians; for integrity, stability and peace.

2.      For security and justice in the aftermath of the attempted coup, and the government’s purging of the military, judicial and educational establishments.

3.      For the church to be able to get a clearer vision of its purpose and mission, and to develop the resources needed to achieve that.

4.      For us: for renewed energy, and a clear sense of what is needed from us for the second half of our time of ministry here.

Unexpected meetings

Last week was busy, but stimulating.

The requested evening Bible study only attracted two men, one a German who works at their Consulate, and our regular Iranian. There was good sharing and discussion, as we looked at Philippians 2. We shall now look at some of the ‘I am’ sayings in John. We also continued the afternoon Bible study – working through John’s Gospel – on Wednesday. Numbers were down there, because of the public holiday, but again there was good sharing.

On Wednesday we had an early start, to cross the city by Metro to meet a church member who was driving us down to a Christian retreat centre near Ephesus for their weekly Prayer Meeting, which draws Turks and English-speakers together. We had been told that the group leader wanted to talk to us about spiritual direction/guidance; this did not prepare us for being told that they wanted us to speak to the whole group about this for two sessions, morning and afternoon. So Jo and I had a hasty prayer walk and talk during the coffee break, and then threw ourselves on the Holy Spirit! We discovered that one advantage of having to have one’s words translated is to give space to think of the next sentence! In the event it went well, and again there was a real interest in the whole subject of prayer. It was moving to hear from two Turkish women, who had been led from Islam to Christian faith as the result of dreams about Jesus -something we had only heard of at third hand.

Indeed, it was a week for unexpectedly meeting Christian converts. A walk around Izmir one afternoon led to a short conversation (in English) with a man who cleans shoes. He spoke of the effects of the Bayram (the post-Ramazan holiday, which lasts at least three days), which deprived him of custom; he asked our nationality, and expressed his affection for Britain, and told us he had been baptised some years ago in the sea near Ephesus by a British Christian friend. He produced a crocheted cross bookmark, which we bought from him. And on Saturday as we returned on the Izban (light railway) from a morning exploring a town to the north of Izmir, we were again addressed by a Turkish man who sat opposite us, who told us he was a Christian, having become a member of a Baptist church some three years ago. He knew of St John’s, and showed us photos of a former Anglican church in the city, which is now used by Baptists. (We communicated with the help of his smart-phone’s translation app.)

Add to that a young couple from Istanbul, who came into the church on Sunday before the service – out of curiosity or interest - and then stayed for the whole service, and went to the after-church refreshments. They had been particularly taken by the infant baptisms which took place. (Those baptisms were a joy, as they usually are, particularly as we knew how much they meant to the believing parents. Church members also entered into the spirit of the service – the responses were made clearly and with conviction.) Then after the service we were met by a couple of men who wanted prayer for deliverance for a friend (but our lack of Turkish limited our ability to respond fully.)

So the balance has been more towards work, but we still enjoyed some good time off. Our daily walks by the sea, mostly in early morning light, or towards sunset, are a source of pleasure and refreshment. We managed to find the city bus that goes up the top of Mt Pagos, overlooking the bay, on which are found the ruins of the ‘Velvet Castle’, Kadifekale. The views are wonderful, and the remains of the (mostly Ottoman) keep and walls interesting. The original foundation was by Alexander the Great, but little remains of that. But it was worth seeing (despite the dismissive ‘only ruins’ from the young lady at the Tourist Office.) And wandering round Menemen, at the end of the Izban, was fascinating; just shops, a park and many older, simple houses, but we also came across a partly restored caravanserai in the back-streets.

Prayer points:

·        Give thanks for the obvious openness to and interest in Christianity among at least some Turks.

·        Pray for Yaṣar, who suffers from what his friends called a curse.

·        Pray for a church member visiting the UNHCR office in Ankara, to gain asylum-seeker status.

·        For the Christians we have met by chance.

·        That we may be ready to respond to the unexpected – and to meet the spiritual needs of the congregation here.

Thoughts on Turkey

A few more reflections about life here, though Izmir is not typical of much of Turkey, being very westernised and liberal. It is a busy metropolis, with many students, who make for lively and noisy evenings in the café and club area. The savage attack at the Airport in Istanbul can seem a long way away. But that was the third or fourth in the past year, which shows some of the problems Turkey is facing. There is a question of identity – is it a Muslim country, or (as Atatúrk intended) an open, secular country, with similar policies to France, with its laicité? Is its character that of Istanbul and the western regions, or that of the conservative eastern parts, with the long and easily crossed borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran, as well as some of the former USSR?  The large numbers of refugees that have entered the country over the past 5 years have contributed to some of the security problems.

An obvious effect of the troubles is a drastic decline in tourism. Russians have been told not to come and Americans and Europeans are also staying away. On Saturday one of the church members (a Korean) drove us to Ephesus. The guide books warn that it can be very crowded after 9.30, but we arrived just before 10.00, and there was plenty of space, as there were really not many people within the site. Which was great for us, as we wandered among the marvellous ruins of this once significant Christian city.

Still, in Izmir, we feel as safe as one can be in any large city today. People are relaxed, and we have a good relationship with the police who keep watch on the British Consulate and the church. It is a Muslim city – but the majority are not fasting during Ramazan; though a crowd gathers on the kordon (promenade) for an organised iftar picnic, which begins after the sun disappears behind the Aegean, for those who have spent the day without food or drink.

There are few churches in Izmir; most of the Orthodox churches in this once most Greek of Ottoman cities were destroyed in 1922-24. We have seen a couple of evangelical churches, which meet in converted houses or shops, and Catholic churches which hide behind high walls and security doors. In that sense, St John’s is unique. It is obviously a church – typically Anglican - and visible to passers-by, with just railings in front of it; and it is often open – for a midweek service, or because the Turkish Church which share the building make sure it is open on two or three other occasions. And frequently we have visitors – often young people – who come for a variety of reasons; still they come in, and look and maybe pick up some of the Turkish language literature that is around.

Church members make a real effort, often to travel some distance to attend worship (one refugee walks 5 km to church); there is also great desire to learn more about the faith. On Sunday we met one of the couples whose baby will be baptised next week. The mother is a Kenyan Christian, the father a Turkish Muslim; but his interest in and assent to his daughter’s baptism was encouraging and hopeful. The other couple invited us earlier in the week, to an Iranian lunch. Lina converted to Christianity as a teenager from a church that followed John the Baptist, and had led her family into the Anglican church. Her husband is a convert from Islam; they have left good jobs and family to be together. They wait for permission to emigrate to a permanent home in an English-speaking country. They will be an asset to the country that accepts them.

We have explored some more parts of the city. On Sunday Jo met another of her former pupils, still jet-lagged from a trip on Government business to Toronto.

Prayer Points:

1.      For the new evening Bible study (mostly for men) we are starting this week.

2.      For a prayer meeting in which we are sharing, with a small community in Selҫuk.

3.      For St John’s Church, as the adverts for a full-time chaplain are published in the UK Church Press; that the right person will respond to the opportunities and challenges.

4.      For the people of Turkey, coping with many thousands of refugees, and security issues; and for all involved in tourism, who face an austere summer.