July 4th, 2020: A Surprise Conversation

 halal places near your community: Quick & Easy Guide

One of the favourite activities we have on Saturday is to go food shopping at local ethnic stores. We love to try different kinds of food and spices. So yesterday, we stopped by a brand new Middle Eastern grocery store. We ran into a good friend of mine who is a Muslim Iman. I have not seen him for a while, so it was good to catch up while waiting in line. Our conversation was about life during Covid-19 pandemic.

Many of his people have been struggling with the consequences of Covid-19. They have not been able to travel back to their countries to visit families. When things are difficult, we tend to think about our families more. The disconnectedness in family relationships with one another has created some very damaging stress consequences. Family is the foundation of many cultures. Somehow we have undermined that in the West. It might be a good time to work on it if we hope for a better future.

He talked about a few weddings that have been impacted by Covid-19. In his culture, the wedding celebration is not for the couple. It is for the family and the community of the couple. The inability to celebrate has been hard on these couples who have been looking forward to their wedding day. A healthy community provides a good sense of belonging and accountability. He says that a small wedding to them is like getting married in Las Vegas for Westerners. We then talked about funerals and how horrible it is for families not to be able to grieve together and to have a proper service for the departed. Not to be able to hug and kiss is heart broken for some cultures. I love hugging because it is amazingly healing and comforting. 

We then talked about what is going on around the world. This fellow is more moderate then some others I know. He asked me what have been to the topics for my sermons. "Allah and that has not changed," I told him. When we pay careful attention, we can always see and hear God in various aspects of our life, in the lives of our loved ones and the life of our community. What is happening around us does not change the reality of who God is. However, it might change our perception of how God is at work. He told me what he has been doing a lot of teaching about relationships at his mosque. People might not be interested in the nature of God theoretically, but they are inclined to learn about God relationally. 

Lamentations 3: 22-24
"The steadfast love of the LORD  never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every  morning; great is your faithfulness.
'The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him.'"

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