A run in the tapestry

I have arrived early this morning. There are representatives from First American Title Insurance Company who are arriving today to help Patti to upgrade our computer records to bring them forward into the twentyfirst century. We have the hardware and the software, it is just a matter of getting the information entered into the boxes.

On NPR they are discussing the Armenian genocide which occurred in Turkey back in the latter days of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish government is saying that it didn't happen and the the remaining Armenians are saying that it did. Meanwhile, the Muslim countries which border on Turkey are trying to influence (perhaps not a satisfactory word in this case) Turkey to become a more theistic country.

The country which is now Turkey has such a rich history. When the Romans escaping the chaos which was Rome left the west and moved East to what became Constantinople, they took Christianity with them. Constantinople, which is now Istanbul, was the first Christian capital. If you look in the New Testament you find that Turkey had a strong part to play in the early church. Many of Paul's travels and epistles went to what is now Turkey. When Constantine and his successors established the Byzantine Empire, it lasted several centuries and the Hagia Sofia was the center of Christianinty in the area.

Even after the Moslems took over and the Byzantine Empire came to an end, the presence of Christianity in Turkey was still strong. The Crusades didn't really help much, despite their intentions. The presence of Christian princes and their soldiers in the New Testament lands created a thorn in the paw of the Moslem lion which caused the lion to want it removed. The origin of many of the radical Islamic groups arose during these times and there was always a struggle for control of the area.

The Armenian Christians were a direct link to the early Christian church which was born and developed in the area which became the Ottoman Empire. Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, Syria and Israel were the home to these descendants of the original Christians. When the Ottoman Empire struggled to survive at the end of the Edwardian Age (why do I find it so easy to use the British rule as a marker for History during this time?) many Armenian Christians were killed. Many of those who survived came west to America. Elia Kazan was one of these.

It hurts my heart to consider what the longing for an understanding of God has led people to do. It hurts my heart to look at what damage this desire continues to create in the world. I know that Christianity is not intended to create strife and struggle. I know that Judiasm and Islam come from the same root. We all claim Abraham as a father in our pursuit of God and truth.

Abraham came from a small village in what is now Iraq. At the calling of God, he travelled with his family westward until he finally settled in what is now Israel. God promised Abraham that he would have a home in this place. From Abraham came the kings of Israel, through whom Christians trace Jesus, the foundation of our faith. From Abraham came Ishmael, whose progeny led to the Prophet Mohammed and Islam. God promised Abraham many children. Surely, this promise has come true, both literally and figuratively. It is so sad that his children can not live together in harmony. I am reminded of one of my favorite of David's psalms, which tells us, "How blessed it is when brothers live together in unity."

In my family, one of my forefathers provided the foundation for a small Baptist church in south Christian County, Kentucky. He had deeded the land for the church and contributed funds to the building of the house of worship on the site. To say the least, he felt a proprietorial connection to the church. At some point prior to the Civil War, a travelling Campbellite preacher came through the area and spread a newly reformed gospel which was somewhat different from what was common in the area. My forefather, who apparently had been blessed like Abraham, with many children, found that some of his children had been moved to follow the teachings of this travelling preacher. The pater familias gathered all of his children together for a family conference. After some discussion, there was a vote and the traditionalists won, following the example of their father. The losing children found themselves involuntarily removed from the family home and forced to establish hearth and home elsewhere, apart from their native Kentucky.

Some of these outcasts found their way to Northern Illinois, where a generation later, they produced sons who would volunteer to help in the effort to preserve the union. In early summer, 1863, these grandchildren of the forefather, found themselves ordered to march up a hill in Cobb County, Georgia to try to take possession of the small town of Marietta. On that morning, two of the three grandsons lost their lives and were ultimately buried in the Marietta Military Cemetery. Ironically, the two grandsons were probably killed by soldiers from Tennessee and Kentucky, by the grandchildren of their grandparent's neighbors, kith and kin.

I offer this as an example of what can happen when the children of a loving father differ on the teachings of their faith and are forced away from the homeplace because of the dictates of their consciences. The message of Christianity is one of love, the love of a father for his children. We children might differ in the understanding of that love, but the love that we bear for the Father and for each other, as his children, is the penultimate connection we bear. The relationship we bear for each other is the most important element of the equation.

I remember that story from the life of Malcolm X. After his conversion to Islam, Malcolm X preached about division and separation from white America. He referred to White Americans as "Devils." However, he travelled to Mecca and encountered white, blue-eyed Moslems. Suddenly, he realized that the teachings of his faith were not about racial strife but relationships with God's children. He came back to America and preached a different faith. He lost his life as a result of his conclusions.

At the end of "Saint Joan", the play by George Bernard Shaw, there is an epilogue in which Saint Joan tells the King of France that she would like to come back to help him in his new kingdom. After admitting the part that Joan played in kicking the English out of France and establishing the kingdom of France, the King objects to Joan returning to France. The epilogue and the play end with Joan wondering why we always have to kill our Christs.

Why indeed.