OUR WEEKLY PATTERN

I thought we might report on our regular pattern of activities – if only to prove that we’re not here for a holiday! (stimulating though our time here is.)

Sunday worship is obviously central. St John’s has a fixed liturgy (to allow for a Turkish translation on the facing pages and uses a rather mixed hymn book (BBC Hymns of Praise). Choosing hymns is not too easy, as there is no choir to lead, and half the congregation find it difficult to sing English hymns anyway. But it’s always an interesting experience:  most weeks in the congregation there are some young Turks, who have come out of interest or curiosity. Almost everyone comes to coffee or tea, with biscuits, in the church hall afterwards, and most stay for an hour or so.

 There are other activities each week. On Tuesday mornings, Jo and I join the Lighthouse Church for their weekly English language prayer meeting (though half the prayers are in Turkish!). This usually lasts an hour. That evening we have an Anglican evening prayer service – still on-line, partly because the daughter church at Bornova, where this service was held formerly, is undergoing (very slow) restoration. Last week we had four participants beside ourselves – two of them in the USA.

 Wednesday sees the weekly Bible Study. We usually read through and discuss the following Sunday’s lessons, which can provide helpful pointers for the preacher! We meet in the Church Office beside the church, with six or seven people; but it is streamed, and there is usually at least one person joining us on-line. It’s an interesting, and valuable event.

 Jo and I always start the day with Morning Prayer in the flat; we often then walk down to the Kordon before breakfast, usually buying a gevrek (a local version of simit, a sort of bagel) for breakfast, either from a street seller, or from a wonderful bakery round the corner, where one can watch them being made, and baked in a large brick oven, to be sold still hot.

 We haven’t this time yet travelled outside Izmir; we are re-visiting some of the areas in the city we have seen before. Last week, two of the Lighthouse church leaders took us to another district, to an unassuming local restaurant, which produced excellent, traditional bean dishes. It was good to have a chance to talk to them. Alsancak, where St John’s and the chaplain’s flat are situated, is not the most salubrious area, with a wide variety of shops and small businesses among apartment buildings, most of which have five or six floors. It’s busy and crowded; the next street is being ‘improved’ with new paving – with the result that it’s difficult to walk down, and parked cars accumulate a thick layer of dust. Traffic is everywhere; walking on pavements can be hazardous as one is quite likely to be overtaken by one of the ubiquitous delivery scooters.

 We were invited to a delightful wedding last week. One of the Lighthouse church leadership team, a young Zimbabwean, was marrying a girl from Mexico. The service was in St John’s, which was packed, with most of the Lighthouse church members attending; the basically Turkish service was interpreted via headsets in English and Spanish. The bride’s attendants (male and female) danced down the aisle at the beginning – to be followed by the groom and then the bride and her mother; at the end bride and groom danced exuberantly down to music and applause. It was unlike any wedding I’ve officiated at (though the essential vows and blessing seemed to be modelled on the traditional wording of our Anglican service.)

 We do have time for ourselves, though surprisingly little. It remains very hot, which can limit activity, though we aim to walk as much as we can, sometimes going down to the Aegean to see the setting sun. Good cheap public transport makes it relatively easy to get to other parts of the city. Our time here is passing very quickly – only nine more days.