A green candle and an open casket

We’ve just baptised one of our Iranian members – a very intelligent artist, whose faith is real and lively. It was a happy occasion, celebrated with other members of the Wednesday Bible Study group, who provided refreshments afterwards. She is another example of the growing number of converts that are being seen here. I’ve mentioned previously the phenomenon of Moslem women coming to church after dreaming about Jesus, and the Lighthouse Church reported a family turning up at their worship last week after the father had had a similar dream; they were then moved to make a profession of faith. We saw an interesting variant of that last week, when a young woman came into St John’s just before Tuesday evening prayers; apparently she had come, because a friend of hers had dreamed about her coming to church to light a green candle. She had never been inside a church before. We were puzzled about why the candle had to be green; as we didn’t have one, she was going to buy one and come back another time. We pray it leads her further into exploring Christianity.

Last week also, I was stopped outside the church by members of the Turkish church who were keeping the church open for visitors. A man had just turned up; a family member had just died and they wanted to bring her body into church for an hour that afternoon, ‘for prayers’. I agreed that I would open up for them, and contacted the leader of the Lighthouse Church, an American with good Turkish, to see if he could help. When we both arrived at the church later, other people were there and we discovered that most of the family spoke neither Turkish nor English, as they were Georgian Christians – did we speak Russian, and was I an Orthodox priest? Shortly afterwards the rest of the family arrived, with the city ambulance that was conveying a substantial casket. The latter was carried into church, and placed on the altar; the lid was opened and the body of the deceased – a woman in her early sixties – was raised up, so that her face could be seen by the mourners. I improvised some prayers from our funeral service, adding Alleluias and Kyrie Eleisons, in the hope that might convey something to the family, including the woman’s daughters, one of whom was distraught with grief. We never discovered what had happened, or where the body was being transferred, but after 40 minutes they left – hopefully we had enabled them to mourn for their mother, and get some comfort.

Nathanael’s visit to us was followed by Becky’s; so we were able to do some more exploring of new and old sites. The newest was a day-trip to Bergama (Pergamum) which has impressive ruins on its acropolis, including a vertiginously steep theatre on the hill-side, looking down into the valley. A large brick temple in the town had been converted into a church dedicated to St John in the Byzantine period. We also saw the famous healing centre, the Asclepion, which in the 2^nd century AD had been the base for the physician Galen, whose insights into causes of ill-health were influential on medical practice for centuries afterwards. Although it was clearly pagan, in some ways the centre resembled Christian centres like Burrswood, with spaces for a variety of therapies – music, bathing, exercise and a form of counselling.

On another daytrip with Becky we came across a group gathered outside a community centre where some people were cooking something like doughnuts in a large pan of oil heated by calor gas. We were intrigued, and told by a young woman with good English that this was probably because a family member had died, and they wanted to give these away to by-passers. We seemed to be included, so received a few of these delicacies, which we ate while praying peace for the deceased and their family. Becky also enjoys eating out, so we had a very pleasant week with her.

Now it is again just the two of us in the flat, as we enter into the final week of our time in Izmir. The weather is at last becoming a bit more bearable, with freshness at morning and in the evening.

Please pray:

1.         For our final Sunday service, and the process of leave-taking from our new ‘family’.

2.         For those who will be maintaining the worship and teaching after we leave Izmir.

3.         For the Diocese to move more quickly in short-listing candidates for interview in September.

4.         For our packing up, and safe travel back to the UK on Thursday morning.

Week 8

Another largely uneventful week; though we had the pleasure of Nathanael visiting us, which gave an excuse to re-visit some places. It was good to have some time with him here. He has now returned to England, and we await Becky’s visit later this week.

Last Sunday was the eighth we have spent in Izmir, so it is time to start reflecting on the experience. As we have said before, it is good to experience worship in a multi-national congregation – something which always should be typical of Anglicanism, with its ability to sustain a recognisable ‘style’ of worship in a variety of contexts and languages. In most English parishes we are deprived of this pleasure; on Sunday we had people from the UK, USA, Turkey, Korea, Germany, Netherlands, France, Iran – and that in a congregation of around 24. We continue to be impressed by the desire to learn more about the Bible and faith; by the way the congregation have taken responsibility during the vacancy – and by the opportunities for witness in this place.

Turkey itself seems to be calming down. The daily demonstrations in support of ‘democracy’ have finally finished, though the word is sometimes used in ways we find it hard to recognise. The control of the media for what is almost propaganda is a little disturbing; but some papers are showing more openness. On Thursday there was a large gathering in Izmir; we saw some of those preparing to march, and it must be said that many were young and few looked at all ‘Islamist’. So some of the reports in Western media need to be corrected. And the atmosphere in this city remains relaxed at all times. Although the state of emergency continues, police are seldom seen on the streets, and those who are appear less scary than some of those we saw in Paris three years ago. The majority of people simply want stability, and are probably not too bothered about political niceties. A church member commended us for helping the church members to feel calm during the troubles, but we must say that we have never felt at all anxious about our security or well-being,

As I said, we have been able to re-visit some places with Nat – and enjoy some more meals out. For us the highlight was our second visit to Ephesus. The taxi from Selҫuk took us to the Upper Gate, which meant we began our exploration from the other end of the ancient city, seeing things in a fresh light, and enjoying the perspective of looking down the main paved street to the Library of Celsus. We paid extra to see the ‘terrace houses’, in which some remarkable wall-paintings and mosaics are preserved. This time we had enough stamina to visit the Basilica of the Virgin Mary, where the Council of Ephesus was held in 431 (it declared her ‘Mother of God’, in an attempt to resolve some of the conflicts about the relationship of Christ’s human and divine natures.)

We also had another day-trip to Foҫa, with its pleasant contrasts to Izmir – a small town, its harbour filled with pleasure boats and fishing boats, and with truly blue, clear sea. At Izmir, the Aegean is much darker, and often choppy. The bay here is constantly active; passenger ferries criss-cross from one landing pier to another, and there are always cargo and container ships moored at anchor. Some are waiting their turn to go into the port, but one or two have been in the same spot for the last seven weeks at least. One wonders about their crews – are they marooned aboard, or have they been abandoned somewhere, far from home? It is good that the job description for the new chaplain here includes work with the Mission to Seafarers.

It remains (very) hot, and our energy sometimes flags. But though we will be pleased to be able to catch up with friends and family soon, we shall also miss much about the life of St John’s and its members.

Prayer Points:

1.   Please continue to pray for the process for appointing the new chaplain; short-listing is under way, and interviews are planned for early September.

2.   Pray for those sleeping rough on the sea-front; some of whom seem to be refugees.

3.   Keep praying for a full return to normality in Turkey; for restraint in the state of emergency, and no excessive recriminations against those involved in last month’s attempted coup.

4.   Pray for our last fortnight here.

The joy of normality

Church life at St John’s has continued this week without any great events or surprises; but in some ways that is part of the quiet joy of pastoral ministry. The daily office is said (in our case, by Jo and me together in the sitting room); a small number of the faithful gather for evening prayer in church on Tuesday, and a few more for the Wednesday afternoon Bible study. But that often has its surprises – not least in the commitment to prepare and reflect on the chosen text (in this case, the Gospel of John) and the questions that are raised. Each Sunday is also a different experience. Numbers are not high here, and the absence of people on vacation is felt. But one never knows how the worship will develop, what response there be to the sermon and to the celebration. Sometimes our expectations are met; sometimes there is a hard to define but real sense of the movement of the Holy Spirit.

So there have been no mass conversions. But we look forward to baptising an adult refugee from Iran, a highly intelligent artist who has developed a real awareness of what Christian faith means and who brings a great deal in her quiet way to our Bible study. And who knows what other opportunities will arise in our final three weeks’ ministry here.

Life in Izmir continues as normal, apart from the nightly ‘democracy watch’ assemblies, arranged with the ‘encouragement’ of the ruling AK Party. Friday night’s seemed to start earlier and went on for some time, as we could hear the PA system from our balcony; but in time, the noise and music from the local night-clubs gained their usual dominance. The newspapers that are still published seem to continue to devote most of their space to the after effects of the attempted coup, and to demonise Gülen, and increasingly the USA and European media, for their failures to join in the denunciation and their temerity in criticising the Turkish government.

We’ve continued to explore and enjoy the locality. This week, we managed to get ourselves to Çeṣme, a resort famed for its beaches, though we concentrated on its 18^th century street fountains and distinctive houses and its restored Genoese/Ottoman fortress, with an interesting museum. The local authority have restored a former Orthodox church, which still boasts a number of ceiling mosaics. Thanks to the local tourist map we also discovered two excavated sites dating up to 5,000 years ago – one of which shows evidence of an archaic but developed winery! Getting there had been the usual challenge, with no indication from the metro station where the coach park was; only a couple of phone calls to Jo’s friend, and the helpfulness of a passing family – and the chance that a coach about to leave had two spare seats – enabled us to get there! The coach driver was helpful in pointing out the way to explore the old city. By chance we met him later, sitting and talking to some friends. He invited us to join him for a glass of ҫay; we were then gently quizzed about our political views – so we had to be diplomatic – though they were delighted to find out I was a priest, even if I had to try to explain about the Church of England!

Another expedition was to find the site of the original Aeolian settlement of Smyrna, at Tepekule. It was mentioned in a couple of books, including the official guide – which gave no indication of how to get there. Without the help of Google maps, we could never have found an absolutely fascinating and extensive area of excavation; there are remains of 9^th century BC mud-brick walls and a fountain (still with its water source), and what may be the oldest Temple of Athena. Why does Izmir take such pains to hide its treasures?

For Prayer

1.            People are expressing concern about our having to leave. Pray for continuing provision of ministry, and the successful appointment of a full-time chaplain.

2.            Pray for ‘our’ asylum seekers, that they will not have to wait too long before finding a country to offer them a permanent home.

3.            Pray for the Iranian woman preparing for baptism.

4.            Pray for a return to normality, and greater freedom of expression, in Turkey.