holy week 6: the uniqueness of Christ – easter in an islamic state

 

It comes every night, just as I’m finishing dinner and taking my dishes to the sink.  Today, I’ve left the window of my bedroom open to catch the new spring breezes, so it’s so loud and strong that it drowns out the television and the voices from the apartment of students next door.  It’s the Muslim call to prayer, echoing across Turkey five times a day, every day.  It rockets from the minarets of mosques, proclaiming the greatness of Allah, the Muslim’s one true God, and summoning men to the prayer halls for the daily recitation of the azaan.  What in the old days was loudly pronounced by a man of faith is now blasted from loudspeakers, crackeling with theeffort.  My apartment is situated at the crossroads of three mosques, so their respective calls to prayer grate and reverberate off of each other to make a garbled and often unintelligible mess of off-key notes.  On some days, it makes me long for the quaint bells of Christian churches.  Other days, its haunting melody seems romantic and fitting. 

Into the Darkness

Seasonal: Into the Darkness

Alissa Smith reflects on the experience of living in Turkey, where she’ll be conducting research for the year on a Fulbright grant.  Check out this feature about embracing Christmas in the Middle East…

Every year, I wait with almost obsessive anticipation for the month of December. I search house windows and storefronts for that first Christmas tree, keep my face turned to the sky to catch the first snowflake that falls.  Christmas, with all the joy of family and warmth and companionship…it’s my absolute favorite time of year.  When I spent my college years in California, I was appalled at the nerve of the city to put lights around the palm trees – lights just weren’t right on anything but Evergreens, laden with the heavy burden of fluffy snow.  I refused to acknowledge Christmas until finals were finished and I was on my way through Nevada back home to Colorado.  Just as I crossed the border into Utah and saw the first snow-capped mountain, I’d pop in my Christmas CD and take a deep breath, welcoming the season.  For me, there’s nothing better than Christmas.   Continue reading “Into the Darkness“…

weekly soul . part 4 intro & chapter 13 . alissa smith

a late post this week for SG…  we’ll make up for it tonight by checking it out together during some common silence & prayer.  we always enjoy hearing the heart of our fullbright sister, Alissa Smith, who remains in Turkey for many months to come.  She’s missing the holidays in the States this year because of her assignment, so send her your love!  In the mean time, here’s her thoughts on this week’s reading…

A New Meaning to “Alone”…

 

 

Alissa Smith reflects on the experience of living in Turkey, where she’ll be conducting research for the year on a Fulbright grant.

I stood in the middle of the Istanbul airport, just out of the passport check, and hoisted my backpack higher on my shoulders. People of every color and heritage swarmed around me, headed to family, away from family, to the far away and the close.  For not the first time in my life, I felt solitary, as though my world was somehow entirely distant from the place in which I stood.