L i f e o n t h e N i l e... with the Chandlers

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1 L i f e o n t h e N i l e... with the Chandlers LesChandlers@cs.com March/April 2013 (Just a reminder that our and the telephone calls we receive are still censored--thanks for your sensitivity to this) Please let us know if your address has changed, as this is our only point of contact with you Hello from Egypt! Sandstorm season is fully here, so it is quite dusty out as we write you from the other side of the world. Besides that, we are in the wonderful in-between stage of weather; not too hot and not too cold. The church season of Lent brought along some wonderful opportunities for reflection and growth and community outreach. And it s hard to believe the Easter season is here! This year our Coptic Christian brothers and sisters will celebrate Easter one month after us so in a sense we get to celebrate twice. Out of Egypt.. We are doing very well and having a wonderful year. While Egypt continues to be quite unstable in a lot of ways, we are definitely safe and we are seeing how the country s unique transition has opened more doors for all kinds of tremendous interfaith work. In this sense it has paradoxically been most encouraging. It is hard to believe that this July we are coming up on ten years here. It has been a wonderfully special gift to be here for this long and to see the fruits that can really only come from longevity in a culture where relationships are everything. And as our son Treston, graduates from high school this summer here, we have been praying about whether this summer might be, after ten years, a natural and good time to make a transition. Also, over the course of the last ten years we have never taken a furlough as it doesn t allow for continuity in the ministry here, so we have pretty much been here straight through. We have been discussing all this with the head of Mission Personnel at the Episcopal Church, and have decided to take a six-month furlough beginning in July. During that time I will accept many of the invitations I have had while living here to speak in churches in the US about the experience of serving here in Egypt and on Christian/Muslim relations. In addition to speaking, Paul-Gordon hopes to work on another quite practical book about how Christians can approach Islam based on our experience and work here over the last ten years. These six months would enable him to do both of these things. Our plan is to base in the Chicago area, near Lynne s parents. Also, during that time we will work with the Mission Personnel office of the Episcopal Church as to where we might serve next, continuing as their mission partners. Most likely it would be in a place that can build on and benefit from our backgrounds and experiences in building bridges between Muslims and Christians. As both our kids will be at university then, we won t have to worry about the place having a good international school so there will be a lot more freedom in that sense as to where it could be. That is an overview of what we are thinking right now and we wanted to let you know about it right away. Your support and encouragement to us over the years has been treasured and continues to be cherished during this upcoming time of transition into what God has for us next!

2 THE EGYPTIAN SCENE: Egypt continues to experience great travails following its 2011 revolution. The entire nation is mired in political turmoil, a rapidly worsening economy and burgeoning opposition to the leadership of President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood that he is affiliated with. And life it is getting more and more difficult for the common Egyptian. There are acute shortages of fuel, frequent electricity blackouts due to an energy crisis, major concerns about lack of wheat due to poor harvests, the hard currency of the country is running out, and the security is tenuous to say the least. We have noticed that crime has increased significantly over the last two years. Many Egyptians express deep frustration at the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), the group that currently has the most influence politically, and the MB s inability to manage the complexities of running a country. One of the primary concerns relates to security. The police still seem largely gone, and so more and more we hear of stories of citizens taking security into their own hands, sometimes with tragic results. All in all, while we feel safe and the doors for service continue to widen, the average Egyptian is finding life increasingly more difficult and stressful. Eventually people feel there will be a breaking point, and some talk of a second revolution in the future. As the parliamentary elections have now been postponed until the autumn at the earliest, it doesn t seem that these challenges will be able to be addressed properly for quite some time. FAMILY: Lynne This has been a semester to savor for Lynne, as Treston is winding down his high school career and life will be ushering in a whole new phase. It doesn t appear that the nest will be entirely empty because there will still be two of us left! But it will be a big transition into something new and two in the nest rather than empty does sound much more hopeful! The church book club continues to be a gift for Lynne as several other women are walking through these same stages of life and others a phase ahead or behind, so community abounds. Lent is one of her favorite musical times of the year with Spirituals to sing and beautiful minor keys to explore. Treston generously updated her website several months ago if you are interested in checking out any of her reflections, poems or books: Paul-Gordon Paul-Gordon continues to thrive, and these last several months have been perhaps his most fulfilling to date. In addition to various creative outreach programs he organizes at the church, he is often involved in initiating outreaches that can be handed over to Egyptian entities to develop and manage. One recent exciting example of this is the Imam- Priest Exchange. The Imam-Priest Exchange is a strategic interfaith initiative working with Muslim and Christian religious leadership in Egypt with the goal of creating better understanding and genuine relationships between religious leaders from Egypt s two majority historic monotheistic faiths, Christianity and Islam, and in so doing creating practical models for co-existence. During this transitional period toward Egypt s long-term future, there has been inter-religious strife leading to incidents of sectarian violence, such as the burning of churches and mosques and numerous clashes. With up to 10 % of Egypt s population Christian, mostly from the historic Coptic Orthodox Church that traces their heritage to the first century, this paradoxically allows both for opportunities of unity and significant tension. According to a local survey of imams that Paul- Gordon took, not one imam had ever even met a Christian priest, which shows the relational divide among religious clerics. The Imam/Priest Exchange is an initiative that originated out of our church s interfaith Caravan Festival of the Arts, and it is truly a pioneering effort in Egypt. One of the primary goals is to 2

provide a more positive and truer picture of the religion and faith of the other, toward each religious leader becoming an ambassador of peace in their local communities. The vision has taken root!

3 provide a more positive and truer picture of the religion and faith of the other, toward each religious leader becoming an ambassador of peace in their local communities. The vision has taken root! Through his relationship with the Dutch Embassy, who expressed interest in funding the program, Paul-Gordon shared the program with the Diocese of Egypt (that our church is a part of) and they caught the vision and have run with it. A few months ago, under the leadership of the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt, the different church denominations in Egypt worked together and nominated 20 priests/pastors to participate in the Imam-Priest Exchange. And 20 Imams were chosen by Al Azhar (the intellectual and spiritual heart of Sunni Islam), with the blessing of Beit el Aila ( House of the Family ) which is a group of religious leaders, Muslim and Christian, in Egypt which now has enhanced responsibilities when there is tension or sectarian strife within the country. And just recently, for three days, these imams and priests/pastors, mainly from areas of sectarian strife, came together, lived together, ate together, talked together, and visited both the Coptic Pope Tawadros and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar together. For some, it was the first time they actually talked to a cleric of the opposite faith. For others, the gap between misunderstandings decreased. The opening of the Imam-Priest Exchange program.with Imams (white and red headdresses) and Priests/Pastors seated between each other (every other seat). Britelle It was such a treat to have Britelle and Ross visit us over the Christmas holidays. Their wedding date has been set for May 24, 2014 in Tulsa just after they graduate! One special addition to her schedule this semester has been volunteering at The Little Lighthouse several days a week as part of a Special Education course and she is loving that opportunity! She also now owns the cutest bunny rabbit in the world named Hummus! We are so happy she will be able to come to Cairo for Treston s graduation as will Uncle Tom and the Robinson grandparents! 3

Treston - Despite a full load of classes, Treston is thoroughly enjoying his senior year! He is playing pick-up flag football, basketball, and hanging out with friends in his spare time.

4 Treston - Despite a full load of classes, Treston is thoroughly enjoying his senior year! He is playing pick-up flag football, basketball, and hanging out with friends in his spare time. His big news is that next fall he will be attending Lake Forest College, a small liberal arts college near Chicago, with a great scholarship! He is very excited about the opportunity to be part of this community. And he will have the added bonus of having grandparents in the area! Treston with his friends (he is in the green shirt) ST. JOHN'S CHURCH CAIRO: We have many ministry outreaches and initiatives through St. John s Church during the late winter and spring seasons. It is a time where we reach out to the local community, both Muslim and expatriate, through a variety of special programs that either serve the poor or build relationships between Christians and Muslims. The Abraham Forum Spring 2013 On March 14 we held our spring Abraham Forum. The Abraham Forum in an initiative of St. John s Church-Maadi that has the primary goal of facilitating better understanding and contributing towards peaceful co-existence between the Middle East and the West, and Muslims and Christians, one of the most critical issues of our day. The special speaker for this Abraham Forum was Ashraf Khalil, one of Egypt s most internationally respected journalists (Time magazine, Foreign Policy, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist), correspondent for France 24, and best-selling author of Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation. The title of his talk was Egypt s Unfinished Revolution. His lecture presentation was wonderfully received, filling the church and stimulating many thoughtful questions touching on the inter-religious and political tensions here in Egypt at this time. Ashraf Khalil lecturing at the Abraham Forum and answering questions 4

The Spirit of Giving Charity Dinner & Auction On March 22, St. John s Church hosted again, after a two years hiatus due to the Egyptian revolution, our Spirit of Giving Charity Dinner & Auction.

5 The Spirit of Giving Charity Dinner & Auction On March 22, St. John s Church hosted again, after a two years hiatus due to the Egyptian revolution, our Spirit of Giving Charity Dinner & Auction. Spirit of Giving is an initiative that exists to raise funds for charities under the Spirit of Giving umbrella that assists the poor and needy in Egypt. It was a program we started to give expatriates living in Egypt a way to contribute in a positive and tangible way toward relieving the suffering and encouraging a brighter future for those facing poverty and tremendous hardship here in the country. Because the evening is orchestrated by volunteers and generous commercial sponsorship covers the cost of the event, 100% of the proceeds raised are able to be donated to the various Egyptian charities. These include helping disabled children, refugees, health care for impoverished families, special education for deaf and blind children, assisting the education of widows children, holiday trips for underprivileged children, literacy training, providing medical care for a working animals, medical expenses for families in need, well-baby clinics, providing medical equipment. The ticketed evening event was marvelously successful! CARAVAN Festival of the Arts In Peace and with Compassion The CARAVAN Festival of the Arts was founded five years ago by Paul-Gordon with the objective of building bridges between East and West, and between Muslims and Christians, through visual art, as well as literature, film and music. This unique art festival seeks to use the Arts as a bridge for intercultural and inter-religious inter-change, toward enhancing understanding, respect, and deepening friendship, between the cultures and creeds of the East and West. It comes out of a vision that the Arts can be one of the most effective mediums to enhance understanding and encourage friendship between Muslims and Christians. The annual week-long festival attracts thousands of visitors from around Egypt and the world. One of its unique aspects is that, to date, the festival has taken place at the historic St. John s Church in Maadi/Cairo. As Egypt seeks to find its way into the future, the 2013 CARAVAN Festival of the Arts has the theme In Peace and with Compassion The Way Forward. The festival will be held from 9-16 May and will focus on visual art, literature, film and music. Visual Art Exhibition The heart of the festival is the visual art exhibition. This year over 45 premier Egyptian and foreign visual artists have been invited to participate in what will be a truly unique public art-oriented exhibition for Cairo. The 2013 CARAVAN visual art emphasis seeks to follow in the footsteps of an approach to public art that has featured decorated animals. This first happened in Zurich, Switzerland in 1998, when painted fiberglass cows appeared around the city. Chicago followed suite in 1999, installing cows to commemorate the cow that allegedly kicked over a lantern and started the Great Chicago Fire of And other cities around the world have since done something similar, with fiberglass animals (elephants in London, bears in Paris, etc). 5

6 We are focusing on the donkey! Each participating artist has be given two fiberglass donkeys (one that is life-size and one that is 1/4 life-size) that have been specifically sculpted to paint as they wish according to the theme: In Peace and with Compassion the Way Forward. The donkey symbolizes peace in both Islam and Christianity, found in both the Bible and in the Qur an. For example, both the great Muslim leader Saladin and Jesus rode donkeys when they entered Jerusalem. This is why the theme is In Peace... The donkey also represents the poor, as it is an animal of burden, and this is especially the case in Egypt. Hence the full theme is In Peace and with Compassion. Through this art initiative we are making a statement that the way forward in Egypt and in its relationship with the rest of the world is in peace and with compassion. The donkey sculptures (life-size & ¼ size) commissioned especially for the 2013 CARAVAN sculpted by the renowned Egyptian artist Reda Abdel Rahman, that will be painted by over 45 Muslim & Christian artists. On the opening night, May 9, all 90 painted fiberglass donkeys will be on display at St. John s Church in Maadi. The 45 smaller donkeys will be for sale on the opening night, with 80% of the profits going to the artists and 20% to Egyptian charities assisting the poor under our church s Spirit of Giving charity program. However, on May 10, the 45 life-size painted fiberglass donkeys will be placed throughout Cairo at strategic public locations for three weeks (hotel lobbies, art galleries, cultural centers, universities, schools, community associations, etc.). 20 life-size donkeys will be then selected for a traveling interfaith exhibition to venues in both Europe and the United States. YouTube video You can watch a short fascinating documentary video on YouTube about this unique interfaith art initiative made our son Treston. -See: Film, Literature and Music The Film, Literature and Music aspects of the CARAVAN arts festival this year will be exciting as well. For FILM, we have Egyptian actor Amr Waked coming. He has starred in movies such as Contagion, Syriana and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. He will be giving a talk and there will be a screening of his latest film, Winter of Discontent, about the Egyptian Revolution. For LITERATURE, we have Dr Alaa El Aswany, as our special guest, the best selling novelist of The Yacoubian Building. He will give a talk and sign his newly released book, The Automobile Club. And for MUSIC, we will have a closing concert featuring the renowned oud (lute) composer and player Georges Kazazian, whose music captures a translucent way of playing the oud. You can learn more about our 2013 CARAVAN Festival of the Arts at the festivals website: REFLECTION (by Lynne) When Darkness Descends There are times in life when storm clouds threaten and darkness descends uninvited. If just for a moment, its presence may be heeded, an opportunity to pause, refocus and take less for granted. Then with cause for thankfulness a new day dawns and life s course resumes its way. 6

7 But when dense darkness and thick shadows linger, rhythms may falter as moments of surety slip just out of reach. Into the vault of time the steady rays of the sun recede. In its stead a gloomy blanket of night unfolds. In unknown territory and enveloped by darkness, lurking fear grips the edges of consciousness and despair sounds its looming cadence. The bend in the journey is not welcome. You have not traveled this way before. Nagging questions obscure the pathway. Elusive answers bully and demand. The joyful pulse of hope feels smothered, bleary vision continues to dim. Listen to what is nudging your soul, whispers in the wind from the breath of eternity. Be watchful. Stretch your boundaries. Grow to savor the mystery. Trust the hushed voice of your Creator. Be comforted by that caring embrace. Allow yourself the chance to be grounded. In the details of being alive, anchor your heart with meaning. Leap to celebrate when the time is right. Live from within. Live everything. Be still. Be aware. God s presence is ever brushing the night sky toward hints of the coming dawn. Swishes of light and shafts of hope gradually emerge in the stillness, waiting. Work is being done as channels are infused with healing. Strength is being collected, stored and held in reserve until needed. The night s work must run its full course. It is carrying its secrets, its sources of healing, its mysterious outpouring of strength to draw from, to sustain you in the bright warmth of day. The visitation of darkness is a time of letting go, sorting, restoring health, resting your body, mind and spirit. Let the low notes of life resonate, allow minor keys to participate, listen to the beauty concealed in these moments: moments with no answers, moments of mystery and moments of teetering on the edge of emptiness. Step back from your life, pull aside the veil, resist the urge to rush the gift of life you ve been given. Let it be. In time, the darkness will fade again; it will slip away and be gone. Then dawn will be released, daylight will arrive. And what was gathered in the silent moments of waiting, will guide you with meaning in the full light of day. DEPTH FROM THE MIDDLE EAST: +++ "You are blessed when you re content with just who you are no more, no less. That s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can t be bought." (Gregory of Nyssa, 4 th century bishop of Nyssa, in Cappadocia, what is today Turkey) A paraphrase by Michael Glerup Thank you again for your generous support and prayers, which enable us to serve in Egypt. We treasure your involvement in our lives. Warmly, The Chandlers (Paul-Gordon, Lynne, Britelle and Treston) Leschandlers@cs.com / Personal Address in the US--mail forwarded to Cairo monthly: The Chandlers / P.O. Box 360 / Winfield, IL / USA We treasure your financial support! TO SUPPORT US FINANCIALLY: (tear off below and send to AFM) Yes, I would like to support the Chandlers. Name/Address/ *Please make your checks payable to: (Please note NEW ADDRESS below) Anglican Frontier Missions, 1791 Cambridge Drive, Suite 200. Richmond, VA IMPORTANT--Write "for Paul-Gordon and Lynne Chandler" on the memo section of your check. Thank you for your support! 7

An update from the Chandlers

An update from the Chandlers Life Away from the Nile... Email: LesChandlers@cs.com December 2013 Please let us know if your e-mail address has changed, as this is our only point of contact with you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------