The Foundation of Faith

 If you have noticed my posts lately, there have been challenges.  One of the biggest is working in a professed Catholic school where some leadership cannot even define the place of faith in the school.  All of this got me thinking - how important is our faith to what we do??  It is no big mystery that the past few years have been a huge adjustment for me in many areas, and I am still coming to terms with a lot of it now as I am even writing this.  Thankfully, for whatever it's worth I am realizing I am not the only one, as a good friend of mine has been facing issues of his own recently.

Dr. Stephen Missick is a pastor and writer in Texas, and we have been good friends for probably the better of 30 years.  Although he is a few years younger than I am, one thing our stories share is a love and passion for Middle Eastern Christians, in particular the Assyrians.  We both started that journey in our high school years, and largely were introduced to the same people within the Assyrian community, so we have many mutual friends.  Both of us are now in our 50s, and we are now able to both carry the title "Doctor" in front of our names due to completing our doctorates, and in many ways it is a huge accomplishment for both of us.  There are some differences however, in that Stephen also is a veteran of the military, having served tours in Iraq during Desert Storm, and he is also still Protestant whereas I converted to the Roman Catholic Church 26 years ago.  Additionally, he has had a more consistent involvement with Assyrians in recent years than I have, given my own path in the past several years has evolved somewhat and I have been focused on pursuing other interests as well.  However, I still have many dear Assyrian friends, and I firmly believe they are the people they say they are, and on this Stephen and I are definitely on the same page.  In recent years, Stephen has been a busy guy too, having written several books dealing with Aramaic Christianity (I have three of those myself).  He is the second of two non-Assyrians (the other being Ron Susek, who has done amazing work himself in his book The Assyrian Prophecy) who have devoted effort to advocating for the Assyrian nation - I also am a non-Assyrian who has done so for almost 40 years myself now, but I have a distinguishing difference in my DNA that makes my perspective a bit different - I have Armenian heritage.   Stephen's many books are available on Amazon for purchase, and I would encourage you to check them out because he has done some excellent work.  

I mention Stephen because he also is in need of prayer - he has faced a family issue that has turned somewhat ugly,  and he has also gotten a bit of resistance from some in the Assyrian-American community for a proposal for an alteration to the Assyrian flag (I will delve more into that shortly).  Additionally, some evil person attempted to kill his dog, and the dog suffered a gunshot wound which thankfully was not fatal.  I mention this because it seems like so many of us trying to live out our vocations are facing some attacks on different fronts, and as I would probably encourage Stephen in his trials, being under that much fire means you are doing something right and the opposition is not only inevitable, but is to be expected.  I have been there myself, as you have seen in the saga of my own challenges especially over the past year.   The point of these trials is to draw us closer to God, and in doing so, we find our peace.  That is not as easy to see when you are experiencing the trial as it is in retrospect, and that whole area deserves a study of its own - why is it that we often only see the "bigger picture" in retrospect?  Definitely worth some digestion for sure. 

I wanted to revisit Stephen's issues with some Assyrian-Americans regarding the Assyrian flag, and his objection is the overt paganism he sees the flag having in the Asshur disc in the top center.  It's a valid concern, and given that the Assyrians are an overwhelmingly Christian people, it could be an important focal point of discussion.  Stephen found himself headlong into a maelstrom over this, and a mutual friend of ours seems to be giving him some real flak over it.  I have known Assyrian writer Fred Aprim for many years, and for the most part we are good friends.   Fred is knowledgeable about his people, and he has written a couple of very excellent history books that are definitely worth reading.  However, like us all, Fred is not perfect, and one small issue I find with Fred a lot is that he is almost ambivalent to Christianity, and there have been some hostile things said in his writings about the Church, the Bible, and other things.  I cannot judge Fred's heart by any measure, as I am not the Holy Spirit, but a conclusion that I can draw from his reactions is that this guy was hurt at some point, and he is doing what many of us do in that situation - he is projecting his hurt and resentment upon things that probably had little to do with it.  I have known about Fred's harsh words about Christianity for some time, and for the most part I just take what he says with a grain of salt and leave it alone.   As I have said, Fred is a good friend too, and I do value his friendship as well as some positive things he has done for his people.  But, I also pray for Fred, especially that God would heal him of whatever is causing that pain that causes him to lash out against Christianity in particular.   His issue with Stephen was the fact that Stephen actually proposed a more Christian-influenced flag of the Assyrian nation, replacing the image of the Asshur disc with a picture of the Mandylion, which is a similar icon to the Shroud of Turin which was believed to be given by Jesus himself to King Abgar of Edessa.  The flag design is nice actually, and it still looks distinctly Assyrian, and Stephen notes that many Assyrians think it looks good too.  That being said, let me weigh in on my perspective on internal issues among the Assyrian community.

If you are part of a community, you have the perspective of that community to a degree, and that does merit some involvement in discussing issues that affect said community.  I am not Assyrian myself (although I would have loved that if I was) so I have learned over the years to respectfully stay out of certain debates that are internal to them.  One of those is the debate over the term "Assyrian" itself - many embrace it, but there are others who prefer to be called something else such as Chaldean, Aramean, Syriac, etc.  At the end of the day, they are all still one people, but it is up to them to self-identify by the name they feel embraces their ethnicity.  When a non-Assyrian inserts themselves into that debate, it could be a potential hornet's nest, and perhaps not something you want to jump feet-first into unless you have a feeling of the situation that would merit your input.  I think to a degree this is what happened with Stephen and the flag too, and although I see what he is trying to do and there is nothing wrong with it, I am also not an Assyrian myself either.  Therefore, I feel the least qualified personally to weigh in on that issue, as I view it as something the Assyrian people need to sort out themselves.  This is true of any other ethnicity as well - in my case, I work in a Catholic school that is over 50% Black, and I would not dare try to insert myself into a discussion about their community because they would probably rip me to pieces if I did.  I observe things for sure, and believe me, there is some feedback the Black community in Baltimore could benefit from, but the person who addresses it will be more effective if they are part of that community themselves.  This is not in any way disagreeing with Stephen, or Fred, or anyone else - it is just my personal take on it, and maybe God was using Stephen to address a concern, who knows?  Ultimately though, it is the Assyrians themselves who have to initiate any change to their flag, and I don't feel in a position to insert my feelings into it personally.  My advice to Stephen as a friend would be this - pray to raise up that person among the Assyrians who can address the issue and possibly bring about a desired change.   Stephen may be a catalyst for that happening, but I would say now that the issue is on the table, let them sort that out.  And who knows - they may come up with something even better based on perhaps some inspiration Stephen gave them.  So, Stephen, if you are reading this, hopefully it will help - you didn't do anything wrong by expressing your ideas, and maybe it was a time to do so as it may click in an Assyrian visionary's mind that maybe this is something to talk about.  Again, this is just my own take on it, and in no way is it to be taken as gospel, as maybe I may not have a complete perspective on it either. 

Bottom line, my friend Stephen reminded me of my own foundation - I recall being happiest when I was more actively involved with activism on behalf of the Assyrian community, and I often look in the mirror wondering what in hell happened to that young visionary 30 years ago??  And, can I reignite it?  Perhaps I need to give this whole thing a new look and see if it sparks anything, as it could be something I am missing too.  It also shaped my whole Christian walk to a degree too, and there are days I feel I have lost my fire.  Watching Stephen's videos and reading his books challenged me in all honesty, and despite different approaches, I see Stephen as being active and cannot help but be a bit envious.  However, at the same time, I want to celebrate his success too, as he has done great work.  Any rate, those are my thoughts today, so will see you next week.