May 28, 2020

On Tuna, Faith and the Economy!

By Wissam Nasrallah I have always enjoyed going grocery shopping on weekends to buy what my family needs for the week. However, for the past two months, grocery shopping in Lebanon has become quite the psychological and spiritual experience. It is not the gearing up with facemask, gloves and hand […]
May 21, 2020

Our Gods Are Burning

By Robert Hamd All of us are affected. From the beginning of the popular protest, to the current collapse of the Lira, all of us are affected. What sets this time apart from the bloody era of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1991) is that now we can’t stand behind our […]
May 14, 2020

Announcing Middle East Conversations 2020

Since its launching in 2004, the Middle East Consultation  (MEC)has annually gathered individuals from around the world to explore important issues confronting the Church in the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) region and beyond. When the COVID-19 global crisis struck during the early months of 2020, it became apparent […]
May 7, 2020

Homebound Hope: Reflections on Four Levels of Home in the Shadows of Pandemic

by Brent Hamoud Humanity is spending a lot of time at home these days. Stay-at-home orders have largely limited us to private confines resulting in some staggering consequences: half the world’s population was under lockdown at one point, 9 out of 10  students have been left out of school and […]
April 30, 2020

Interfaith Solidarity this Ramadan

By Martin Accad My two young children (10 and 8) gathered around us a few days ago. My wife and I were going to have a heart-to-heart with them. Though we had so far decided to spare them the feelings of financial insecurity, we felt it was time to have […]
April 23, 2020

Covid-19 and Biblical Impurity: Go Forth and Infect the Nations

by Nabil Habibi One of the more challenging aspects of the biblical world is the focus of the ancients on purity laws. Many ancient Jewish groups and even common people were constantly aware of their ritual purity, especially concerning eating or praying in everyday life.[1] They lived in fear of […]
April 16, 2020

A Familial Resurrection Holiday Despite Coronavirus

by Rabih Hasbany “We will not celebrate Easter this year …” “There will be no Resurrection Day this year …” In light of the current worldwide lockdown due to the outbreak of coronavirus, many people have lost the opportunity to practice traditional Easter rituals. On Sunday morning, we did not […]
April 9, 2020

Coronavirus: Finding Mercy in a Tyrant’s Reign

by Mike Kuhn …and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour… (Luke 23:44) I confess.  I thought pandemics were medieval. Sure I remember SARS and Ebola. But those didn’t get close. They affected others. I caught H1N1 (Swine Flu) but I recovered eventually and life went […]