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1-248-646-5041 |
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Report
on Abundant Life Congregation Pastor Rani Abdul-Masih wanted me to say how surprised and grateful he is for the support of BSLC for their mission church. He thought our church might support it for about 6 months & then lose interest. He is amazed that the support endures. The money we send is even more vital now that the church from whom they used to rent space has disbanded. Although the church was paid for and belongs to the synod until a congregation, hopefully theirs, can purchase it , they are responsible for all renovations, utilities, upkeep, rounds, repairs, etc. In addition they have their constant costs of doing business as a church in terms of very modest computer, copier, phone, fax, etc. They have an active Sunday school-youth program and have begun a new series of lessons, which they used some BSLC money. They are constantly adding to their children's library of Bible stories. Many of the children have parents who speak little or no English, and Arabic letters are different than English letters, so having the children read English Bible stories to their parents and grandparents are very important. Of course, many parishioners also are proficient in English and read to their children. During church services there are many small children in the nursery who need toys and books as well as out door play equipment for longer programs. Since Abundant Life conducts the only Christian services in the entire city of Dearborn in Arabic (Pastor Abdul-Mahsih has been in this country since he was about 19 and translates his sermons back and forth from Arabic to English at lightening speed!), they incur extra expense in printing worship materials in Arabic, which requires a different font, etc. He and his wife are very good with the computer and in translating themselves. Rani Abdul-Masih is from Jerusalem and as far as he knows, his ancestors have been Christians since the early days of Christianity. He comes from a big family with 2 or 3 siblings here and his mother (father deceased) and the rest of the family still in Jerusalem. If you've not seen what's going on over there, it's awful. The Israelis are trying to wall off Jerusalem from Palestine by a huge concrete wall which extends far into the countryside with a sort of double wall and a "no-man's land" in between separating families and making it nearly impossible for Palestinians to live in Jerusalem. They are not allowed to use hospitals in Jerusalem and even before the wall went up, the guards at the gates often would refuse permission for some one with Jerusalem identity papers who was an Arab (Christian, Muslim, Atheist). That is how Rani's father died--he was having heart trouble and he was refused passage to the only decent hospital for Arabs (a Christian one above the city which has since ceased to exist after Israeli bombing). Thus many of his congregation have fled or come to the U.S. to escape religious prosecution at the hands of both Jews and Muslims or various governments which have a state religion. His wife's family came over when she was very young when Christians were being persecuted in Egypt. Most of his parishioners come from Jordan & Palestine: We have an ELCA bishop in Jordan and ministers in both Bethlehem (the Israelis almost killed him in a skirmish a few years ago--they bulldozed the house right next to the parsonage with their tanks. However, they left the Lutheran church relatively intact & they've also left the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem unharmed. I've read a handful of books about what went on during the early 2000s. People were forced to flee Bethlehem. I met one of them during a coffee hour when I attended a church service there. She was a very warm older lady dressed in black; only later did I read about the destruction of much of Bethlehem. Congregants are typically first generation Arab-Americans with children who speak perfect English although some are second generation. They are mainly from Palestine and Jordan, with a few from Syria and Lebanon; his wife from Egypt. A very few are entrepreneurs; the rest tend to have working class types of jobs. Many have great difficulty finding steady work since it's hard to learn English without an accent unless you come here as a young adolescent. With a different alphabet and the prejudice that exists against anyone from the Middle East today, his parishioners have an especially tough time of it. They love their own lands; many had lived in the same place for a couple thousand years. That's hard to fathom as a European-American. However, they had little choice, sometimes to no choice---they were refugees--but to leave. Then came 9/11 and they faced government and citizen harassment here! Although the Muslims in Dearborn do not physically harm them, they verbally harass them for being Christians. At an evening event about a year and a half ago, I was speaking to the mother of teenagers, and she said it was tough for her boys in school. They go to a school with European-American children and Arab-Muslim children. They are shunned by both groups; since they look Arab, the first group shun them although they are gentle kids, good students & sociable. The Arab-Muslim children give them a hard time for being Christian. However, she said they like living in Dearborn because it has shops where she can buy foods she is used to and there are some cultural similarities. She also likes the multiracial mix. However, without the support the teenagers get from the youth group at church and the family functions they all go to in addition to the services, life here would be very tough. I just heard her husband lost his business due to the economic slump. She was very active in her community and was even running for the school board. I'm wondering how they are faring—they were some of the best off in the congregation; she was 2nd generation. Because Rev. Abdul-Masih's flock have little in the way of money,they are very happy to serve in the way of helping to renovate the church, which is still in the process of being redone. The previous congregation was a small group of elderly people who had not done much but basic repairs in probably 30 years. As money for materials becomes available, there is a willing crew ready and able to carry out the needed services to fashion the church in a way that it is useful for a "young" congregation--there are an incredible number of youngsters.
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