Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, I know I'm a bit late for this message, but I'm in favor of thanksgiving all year long! This is turning out to be quite a busy Advent season, but don't worry, the Christmas update won't be two weeks, late, inshallah. 

"For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to whichthey have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie downsays the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I willdestroy. I will feed them with justice." -Ezekiel 34: 11-16

I included in this post a picture of what we worked on in school a few weeks ago, and what inspired me to write this post. We made sheep (خروف) for the Eid al Adha feast that was celebrated by Muslims worldwide a few weeks ago, when people from the US were celebrating the holiday of Thanksgiving. Most of my students are Muslim, as well as the teachers that I work with, and so I am learning a great deal more about a religion that I had only a rudimentary understanding of before. The name of the holiday means "Festival of Sacrifice" and it is a commemoration of Abraham's obedience to God, and his willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael, in order that he might follow God's command. In Muslim, Jewish, and Christian holy texts, Abraham leaves his son Ishmael in the wilderness with his mother, Hagar, but God rescues and preserves them, promising that He will make a great nation of Ishmael (Genesis 21).  As a symbol of Abraham's sacrifice, families that can afford to do so commonly sacrifice a sheep, goat, cow, or camel to celebrate the Eid. 

I was fascinated to learn about this holiday, because of the parallel story we find in the scripture about Abraham's near sacrifice of his son Isaac (Genesis 22). The story is quite important in Christian theology, as Christians have long paralleled the story of Isaac to that of Christ, where the Father does ultimately sacrifice the Son. The interconnectedness and intertwining between the faith stories of different religions here is one of the most interesting things about living in a place where you constantly seem to be celebrating one holiday or another. I really enjoyed making sheep in school, and as more and more of them amassed in the art classroom, I found that I couldn't help but ponder this little flock that we had made. Inside each toilet-paper tube was the name of a student, so effectively each little sheep represented one of my students- children of God that I have especially been called to love and care for during this year of service. I am then reminded of the words of Jesus, "Feed my flock," which reminds me that it isn't MY flock at all- it's His. And while sometimes I feel like a shepherd of children here, more often I feel like just another sheep in the flock- sometimes huddling close to the other sheep, sometimes straying and wandering off alone. I suppose there are really two parts to what I've been thinking about regarding sheep; one is that we are all God's sheep, and we can joyfully give thanks that as the Good Shepherd, He is constantly watching over us and gathering us in. The other is that we share in a responsibility to our fellow sheep; in other words, God places in our lives our own little flocks to love and tend to. During this holiday season (and always), may we thank Him for the care He gives us as members of His flock, and may we recognize and faithfully serve those little flocks He's placed in our lives. 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give him thanks! Praise his name!

-Psalm 100:4