April 15, 2016
By Rabih Hasbany “Marhaba!” Marhaba is an Arabic word that simply means “hello” and is a commonly used greeting in the Middle East. I hear it on average 8 to 10 times a day, and especially so while spending a weekend in my family’s lovely village where everybody knows each […]
April 7, 2016
By Martin Accad My father worked for the Bible Society in Lebanon for most of his life, serving as its General Secretary for over 25 years. Growing up, several of my summers were spent in the distribution of Biblical literature and in organizing viewings of the Jesus Film in Christian, […]
March 31, 2016
by Kathryn Kraft “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The challenge in the words of this prayer have taken on a new weight for me after spending some time in the Kurdistan Region of […]
March 23, 2016
by Mike Kuhn “Perhaps what is outside is also somehow inside, what is alien also intimate.“ (Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction)[1] “There are two kinds of people in the world…” That’s the opener. Then a clever, self-appointed guru proceeds to divide the entire population of the world (7.4 billion […]
March 17, 2016
(Photograph: John Bowen – Location: Bekaa Valley, Lebanon) by Suzie Lahoud “I wonder why all children are happy around the world enjoying Christmas decorations, different colors, new clothes, but the children in our country live, every year, with a hope that the next year will be better, yet they discover that […]
March 11, 2016
by Arthur Brown What do you believe? And, how do you decide what you believe? Do you believe what you believe because you read it somewhere, because someone you know and trust told it to you, or because you witnessed or experienced something that led you to draw a particular […]
March 4, 2016
By Martin Accad In recent months, I have received a number of invitations from the West to speak about the crisis in Syria, and particularly about the massive refugee migration into Europe. The question that keeps coming is: ‘How should the church in the West respond to the massive refugee […]
February 25, 2016
by Robert Hamd A Catalytic Moment I first learned about Sami* many years ago when a dear friend of mine came to me, pleading for my help. Sami had been languishing in a Lebanese jail for months without any due process. His crime? A lapsed residency permit. Lebanese police routinely […]