Not Yet the End

Written by Maria Bakalian and Nishan Bakalian, serving in Lebanon with the Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches.

Several times a week a friend or an acquaintance will contact us to ask about our safety here in Lebanon, having read or heard some news report that awakened their concern. It is difficult to answer in a way that is neither fear-mongering nor flippant, particularly because we do not know what information the questioner has been subjected to. Yes, there are “wars and rumors of wars” as well as “nations rising against nations”, “famines” as well as “lawlessness” (see Christ’s words in Matthew 24.3-14), but as Christ told his disciples, “The end is not yet”. It is only the “beginning of the birth pains”.

            For all of those in this region, some facing death and destruction at every turn and others, like us, merely worn out by uncertainty, the Lord Jesus’ call to “endure to the end” takes on special meaning. In them we hear that there is One who is aware of all the blood being freely spilled in these holy lands in the name of security and retribution. But we also hear the call to believers for patient endurance, as all of this is a demonstration of humanity’s pitiful condition as it groans in pain, waiting for the Savior’s promised day of redemption. This waiting and enduring for us means praying for peace and safety as well as speaking out for those who for decades have been portrayed to the West as less worthy than their overlords, and less worthy to live on the land of their ancestors.

            The war that is, in fact, going on in southern Lebanon and other selected targets throughout the country, with the occasional sonic booms to remind the Lebanese that their country can be “turned into another Gaza” (an unintentional admission of the inhumanity and collective punishment they are meting out). In Beirut and many other areas in the country the war that began last October is merely a sideshow to the mostly ignored, disastrous governance of the country. There is an entrenched lack of political will to address the endemic corruption pervading every aspect of the country, where the leaders are only interested in pointing the finger at others for the absence of a president, the theft of the life savings of ordinary citizens, the hyperinflation that continues unchecked, the lack of electricity, the ruination of the natural environment, the disarray of the educational system, the dilemma of depending on “illegal aliens” while insisting they leave the country, the thwarting of any attempts to hold accountable those responsible for the devastating 2020 port explosion, and the list goes on.

            It is a joy for us to do our small part to support the ministries and institutions of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE), thanks to the support they – and we – receive from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. Amidst all the uncertainties swirling about, the UAECNE celebrated its centennial this year, in itself God’s miracle, as it was able to reconstitute itself from the decimated church unions and Armenian people who had survived the attempt to exterminate them from their ancestral lands. A special highlight of that anniversary was the participation of UCC President Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson and Middle East & Europe Global Relations Minister Dr. Peter Makari. Of all that it does, most significantly it is the UAECNE’s century-old educational ministry that seeds the minds of children and young people with a sense of hope and future as they are cared for in the loving, stable and Christian environments of the UAECNE schools, Haigazian University and the Near East School of Theology.

            Whether in lands of unrest or in the relative peace and safety of other locales, the challenge remains: the church must be the church, and not merely an echo of the power plays swirling about it. Christ calls his church to live in line with the gospel of God’s kingdom, challenging the fallacy that violence can beget peace, or confronting the powers who encourage and fund the brutality being perpetrated. Will the church hold fast to its calling and endure to the end? Only with the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit. Will the church continue to proclaim God’s gospel message, even if it is not endorsed by one or another political side? Jesus insists that this message is for all and challenges his church to remain steadfast despite all the pitfalls that are occurring. There is a long road ahead, and when God declares the end, only then will it be the end. Until that Day arrives, may God empower the church for the whole journey!

Rev. Nishan Bakalian and Maria Bakalian

27 August 2024 – Beirut

Nishan and Maria Bakalian serve with the Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches in Lebanon. Their appointments are made possible by gifts to the Disciples Mission Fund, Our Church’s Wider Mission, and your special gifts.

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