Today we started out in Madaba, Jordan visiting the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George which is an important historic site because it contains a floor mosaic dating from the 6th century which is a map of the Holy Land as of that period in history.  It is a remarkable piece of work which was buried when the church was destroyed by earthquakes in the middle ages and when it was rebuilt in the 19th century they found the mosaic in the floor.  The entire church is decorated with mosaic icons which are also stunning.  The mosaic map is one piece of archeological evidence that is used to confirm that the site we visited yesterday is the site where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist as the map indicates the baptism site to be where we were yesterday.  After visiting St. George's we drove to St. Paul's Anglican Church, which is part of the Diocese of Jerusalem and had a wonderful visit with Fr. George Kopti, the priest there.  The church is in Ashrafea section of Amman, which is a poor section of the city, primarily Christian.  The church has a very active ministry to Iraqi and Syrian refugees which Fr. Kofti described to us in great detail.  They also have a senior living center for indigent elderly women, and the support an Anglican school in the area.  Christians are a tiny minority in Jordan but the churches are places of sanctuary for the poor and for refugees who flood into Jordan from Syria and Iraq.  Fr. Kofti described the churches and the holy sites that are nearby in Jordan (the Baptism Site, Mt. Nebo and others) as places of sanctuary and refuge for those who are fleeing war and violence and for those who are poor.  He spoke of the various ministries his church maintains for the refugees which include spiritual help like Sunday School for children and Bible study for adults, to practical assistance such as English lessons, help with getting food and shelter, free psychological counseling for those suffering from the stress of their refugee experiences, assistance with finding medical help for ongoing conditions, and help with preparing the refugee families to transition to whatever country they eventually find themselves moving to. He spoke of how hard it is for him and his local congregation to have to say goodbye to these families after they have been with them for months or years, when those families finally get their papers to emigrate to the US, Canada or Australia.  He told us of one family, a couple with 4 children who fled Iraq when ISIS took over their city.  The family lost absolutely everything they had ever owned, including their home and all of their possessions.  They were on the run for months and had no money and no food.  At one point on the journey the father became desperate because he did not have enough money to buy food for his wife and children so he had resolved to spend his last money on a piece of meat and intended to put poison in it and feed it to the family so that they would all die together, quickly, instead of dying slowly of starvation.  He told the priest that the night before he planned to do this he prayed to God for help saying to God, essentially, I don't want to do this but I am desperate.  The next day, refugee helpers came and found his family and helped them get into Jordan.  That man and his family joined St. Paul's and became active members of the congregation.  As Fr. Kopti explained it, for these refugees who arrive in Jordan all they have left in the world is their religious faith.  They have lost everything else.  To them their faith is life giving and the only thing that helps them cope with all the loss and suffering they have endured.  His congregation is small and not particularly wealthy but they truly believe that they are called to extend radical hospitality and love to the refugees who arrive in their neighborhood and so they do everything they can to help.  They also help Muslim families who need it and they have some Muslim children who attend their Sunday School because it is a place where they feel safe and loved.  Fr. Kopti told us of his dream to start a medical clinic in the parish hall of his church if he can get funding because so many of the refugees have serious medical conditions and they do not have the money to get medical attention when they need it.   We had an amazing time talking to him and we were truly impressed with the work this little congregation is doing under very difficult circumstances.  Christians in Jordan are a tiny minority and tend to be poor.  He said that relationships between Muslims and Christians in Jordan are very good.  They live in the same neighborhoods and they are friends with one another and Christians feel respected in this Muslim majority country. 

After we left Fr. Kopti we drove around the city of Amman, which is huge, stopping at a second century Roman theater and driving through the many and varied neighborhoods of this capital city.  We drove past the Palestinian refugee "camps" which house over 120,000 Palestinians who fled Israel in 1948.  They originally lived in tent cities here, but when it became clear that they were not going to be allowed to return to their homes in Israel Jordan helped them build houses and now the "camps" are actually large urban ghettoes where they Palestinians live.   They have Jordanian passports and are allowed to work, serve in the Jordanian army, go to school etc. and if they want they could move out of the camps to their own private housing but many of them choose to stay, hoping that someday they will be compensated for the loss of their homes in Israel and/or be allowed to return there (all of which is highly unlikely...)

Then we went to lunch in a fabulous restaurant in the more luxurious section of the city.  It was a true Middle Eastern feast.  First courses of many salads, hummus, tabouli, tzadziki, baba ghanoush, spicy chicken wings, sausages, breads, pickles and more.   Then they brought the shish kebabs, lamb and chicken with grilled vegetables.  By the time we had finished all that we could barely move and then they arrived with plates of fruit and dessert cakes like baklava and other sweet desserts.  We all nearly passed out when that course arrived but had to force ourselves to eat some of it because in this culture you simply don't say no to food when it's offered to you.  We practically crawled out of the restaurant back into the bus.  We then drove through more of the neighborhoods of Amman, in the modern section of the city, and came to our hotel which is in the neighborhood where all the foreign embassies are located, a neighborhood filled with opulent villas, many of which, we noted, are for sale or rent!  Tonight we will meet with another priest of the diocese to learn about the ministries he is doing in this part of the world.  A really wonderful aspect of this trip is the ability to meet and talk with Anglicans who are living and doing ministry here in the Middle East, coping with all the challenges that this part of the world presents.  We are able to both be pilgrims, visiting the sacred sites and praying our way through this Holy Land, but also be witnesses to the lives and ministries of our Christian brothers and sisters who are doing amazing ministries under truly extentuating circumstances.  We hope to be able to forge some partnerships with these churches and communities so that we in the US can find ways to support and help the church communities here that are working so hard on the front lines of these major humanitarian crises.