Tag Archives: ISIS
Middle Eastern Conflict
I was at a briefing recently on Parliament Hill about the situation in Northern Iraq. I can’t tell you about it. One of the reasons I attended was to get an update on what is happening in the region. I was there twice last year and do feel I have a bit of connection to […]
Nahum’s Tomb
Anyplace else they would make this into a major tourist attraction. In Alqosh I didn’t see any signs to indicate what was there. In a ruined synagogue, open to the elements, is the tomb of the Old Testament prophet Nahum. The stone tomb is covered by a tarpaulin of sorts. This is not on the […]
Rabban Hormizd IV
They’ve stopped saying mass in the church due to the security situation in the area. There’s a police checkpoint at the foot of the mountain, intended to prevent further looting. This part of Iraq is predominantly Christian, a throwback to the time when Christians were the majority in the entire Middle East. Muslims resent that, […]
Speaking Christian
I didn’t know it was a language. The taxi driver asked us, “Do you speak Christian.” I don’t. Though I am a Christian, I try to avoid some of the jargon that has sprung up around the faith. In North America it is all too easy to live in a Christian sub-culture that bears absolutely […]
Rabban Hormizd III
There must be some sort of special devotion that causes a person to choose a monastic life. Part of me wishes I had that kind of faith. Though I would probably miss my creature comforts. When I look at the cliff that is Rabban Hormizd Monastery I image what it must have been like for […]
Rabban Hormizd II
In most countries a seventh century Christian monastery would be a place of pilgrimage, or at least a tourist attraction. But this is Iraq, and ISIS is only 20 kilometres from here. There are no tour buses. There is no-one else here. Well, there may be a few nuns, be we don’t see them. But […]
Rabban Hormizd I
You can look out from the terrace of the monastery and see where ISIS’ advance was stopped in 2014. Destroying this place would have been the first task on their “to-do” list. High above the Iraqi town of Alqosh, Rabban Hormizd monastery has been a site of Christian worship for almost 1400 years. Founded in […]
Unreal
In North America the ongoing struggle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria is something for the nightly news. It is far away and doesn’t impact us personally. Unless you travel there, in which case it becomes very real. I was given the opportunity to visit a refugee camp in northern Iraq, Yazidi people pushed out […]
Reflections
This post ran one year ago today in the immediate aftermath of the attack on Parliament Hill. The question raised, the striking of a balance between justice (which may at times be more vengeance) and love remains a difficult one. The natural response is to strike back at those who hurt you. The Christian imperative […]
Lost Boys
There has been a lot of media coverage in my area about John Maguire, the young Canadian killed in action in Syria fighting for the Islamic State. There has been much written about his youth, asking how someone could grow up to renounce Canadian values and embrace such an extremist form of Islam. When I […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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