Cyprus Adventure

All on a Sunday Afternoon . . .

Sunday we were invited to share the afternoon with one of the staff and their friends in the old village of Lazanias in the mountains about 45 minutes from our place in Lefkosia.

On the way, we were a little ahead of schedule so stopped in the village of Gourri which is also in the mountains, because I saw a nice church which needed some phtographic attention. Marian walked one way and I another, and soon she was walking down the stepped walkway (street) to lower and lower levels finding picturesque scenes at every turn and soon called for me to join her. This narrow street, never has seen the presence of vehicular traffic since it is built on the side of a mountain. But what a treasure to explore!

Marian saw a gentleman who was standing on the sidewalk and asked if lived there. He motioned since English was foreign to him in the down hill direction. As we stepped our way along ancient corridors of passage, we realized that we were mere footsteps away from the places people called home, and have for years. Around a few more corners and there was the man waiting for us and motioning us to come in.

What were we to do since we had an appointment in another village and we still had 10 minutes drive to go. We graciously accepted the signed invitation and entered through what can only be called a barn door- yes the sliding kind but of a much smaller scale than we would have in Ontario. Up some cobbled steps which showed the signs of countless feet over centuries of sojourn! On the right was the door to the stable which housed or had in the past, some beaast of toil - mule, horse or cow.

Straight ahead we saw what was the 'bathroom' - more properly understood as a toilet in an outhouse. Up a few treacherous steps and we were being invited into the home of this elderly gentleman. As we stepped through the low door which caused me to stoop over, we were driven back in time like stepping through the wardrobe in some C.S.Lewis fantasy! As our eyes adjusted to the light we realized that this was indeed home - we were standing in the bedroom which was located over the walkway through which we had just entered.

This was too precious to ask to take pictures - that would have been an intrusion into their private lives - but the smallish bed had a white layered canopy supported on a metal frame. On top of the ancient wardrobe was the spare bed - a bedroll for the grandchildren perhaps! A small table and a couple of chairs and many framed photographs made this palace a home for them.

The gentleman called to his wife, or perhaps his sister, we cannot tell since neither speak anything but Greek - which they did as if we were understanding every word. Through the door came this rather heavyset women with the biggest smile on her face inviting us to come into the room from which she had just come up the three or four steps. This may be a split level, but not of anything you can imagine. We are now over the stable, in the kitchen, washing room, and bedroom since over against the far wall was a single bed.

Food adorned the table, the bed and stove top - cakes, sweets, homemade semolina sweet, bread and pastries of uniquely Greek origin. We were given plates and asked to take whatever we wanted! Graciously we took some realizing that we were going to enjoy a dinner in a few minutes and still had some winding miles to travel. As we were ushered to the small veranda we sat under the leafless grape vine absorbing the warm sun rays as we heard the constant hum of bees enjoying the warm temperature to gather some nectar for this year's honey stores.

A picture, a glass of water and then a gestured indication that we had to go and would return.

Why such serendipities? Perhaps we were angels to them or they to us! Hospitality on a mountainside in a country where they refer officially to us as aliens. But God's people are everywhere and in one sense they did what we are called to do - give sacrifically without asking or seeking a reason - just give and allow God to give the blessing of knowing that we have shared with those we may never see again - such is the economy to which God calls us. I give here and they in turn give to someone else and on and on the giving goes, multiplied to those to whom God desires to show His goodness through our gentle acts of obedience.

As we climbed back up the stepped street, we were humbled to have been included so graciously and unquestioningly! Thank you Lord for this small lesson in giving!

On to Lazanias where we realized in a few moments that we had entered another historic village of only three permanent residents - two ladies 85 years old and one man 95. Our friends have a holiday home here that has been extensively renovated while still retaining the characterisitc traditional style. What a joy to share souvla with friends and to meet some new ones - from Poland a young tourist guide who is studying to be a lawyer, a young Cypriot who wants to study philosophy when he finishes his military term of two years, but he is hounded by the practicality of employment and wonders how to pursue such love of knowledge and yet have something saleable. Our conversation led him to ask me if God was able to create something which he could not undo. Fortunately I had heard this one before and so discussed with him the consequences of such a question and then our meal took us in different directions. Later in the afternoon as we were touring the local church he asked if I had an answer - why me Lord? I was able to share some insight and to continue the discussion.

Then off to the monastery to purchase some more olive oil - organic, natural extra virgin - and some beeswax candles which we use to light our evenings.

Lord, thankyou for the joy of friends and new discoveries! I am coming to understand why You went to the mountains! There the air is clear, you sense the smallness of your own humanity among the massives we call mountains! There the stoic hills stand guard as sentinels - motionless and moved only by the passage of time - it is there that You found solace for wounded spirits and sensed the closeness of the Father whose love you incarnated. You breathed the air of purity deep into lungs which had become parched with desert dryness and felt the salving healing of air made cold with the elevation! There you had no crowds to draw and demand your attention - just you and Father relaxing, refreshing, reorienting, recalibrating the needs to which you would have to minister in the coming hours. Thank you Father that you were there in the mountains today!

David

Below a picture of the couple with Marian, some street scenes on the stepped street, some flowers in bloom today as we traveled, wine pots which fascinate Marian in her new drawing habit, and a mixed scene of the tools, boots and gardening tools of the 95 year old man of the village. Enjoy!

posted by David & Marian Sloss @ 11:00 AM 0 comments

Thoughts on a Sunday evening …

As we entered ‘our’ garden this afternoon, we heard the distant church bells tolling the faithful to come and worship! What a fond remembrance of the peaceful scenes now largely history in many parts of the Christian West. Yes, it is our garden but actually belongs to the nearby monastery which we frequent for some place to walk or merely meditate in the peaceful surroundings. It was good to see that the fruit has largely been picked from the citrus trees and the olives have long since been harvested. The new signs of spring are starting to etch themselves on the winter landscape as newly tilled spaces between the rows of olive and citrus trees keeps weeds and grass from encroaching on the fruitful season which lies in anticipation. Yes, the hedges are showing signs of growth after their brief period of winter dormancy in which many leaves fall leaving some trees barren while others retain them only to find that they are replaced with the emerging signs of new birth. Yes, our garden is showing signs of another season!

Marian and I part ways as she explores for the more subtle signs of rejuvenation and I find a place near the fountain just outside the monastery complex of buildings but within the garden enclosure.

As I sit and watch the fountains I come to realize the struggle which exists to present such beauty to those who would stop and behold. Each of fifty different fountains combine to make the man-made pond, blue with its tile, seem to welcome the observant passerby. Here each plume of water fights against the forces which would keep it earthbound in reaching toward some higher expression - each fount unique and changing with a myriad of forms as the water so soon released is brought back within the clutches of physics control. I am reminded that together the sound of rushing water drowns out the noise of nearby vehicles rushing to some destination while here is the place where peace envelopes the one who would sit and wait. Ever changing yet always the same - ever the same yet always changing - like God. Just when we think we have come to understand who God is, we are surprised that our definition does not fit, our grasp is only weakly able to hold a part of that which is infinite! God - ever the same yet always changing - ever changing yet always the same. How can we understand something which seeks to elude our human capacity to know, when we struggle to capture that which seems so close yet so far away?


As the thoughts echo through my mind, I reach for one of the books which I have brought for such a time as this - thoughts by Rabbi Russel Resnick, Messianic interpreter of things Biblical - and there I find that God has demonstrated Himself to be like the fountain which captures my attention in the fading afternoon light.

It is Exodus 6 where we read words of God’s self-revelation which confuse and confound our understanding - “I am Adonai. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name Adonai I did not make myself known to them.” Yes, El Shaddai, the Almighty One, the All sufficient One - that is how God was known to the fathers of our faith! But as Adonai, the I AM, he had not been known? Scripture would tell us differently because the text testifies to the fact that this disclosure was part of the Genesis account! So how can this be true? We need to look deeper, as so often is the tease which Scripture places before us - glance and pass on or linger and seek to find that which appears to be elusive. Like the fountain where a passing glance says, “I have seen the fountain” while an hour’s lingering says I only start to know what is pictured here as a corollary of life.

A closer examination of the text in Exodus and Genesis does confirm that the words I Am, Adonai were known to the patriarchs so how can the scribe of Exodus be so categorical, certain and conclusive about his perspective? Therein lies the mystery which we seek to unfold!

Yes, the words had been uttered, but the experience of the patriarchs was not God in action rather as God the discloser and provider of things needed - guidance, direction, confirmation. But it remained for the experiences of bondage, of slavery for His chosen people to not only hear but ‘see’ what it meant for Adonai to say I AM - I am now what I was and always will be…! For God to say that he would make Himself known as Adonai meant that they would now directly experience his nature and activity in a way heretofore unknown to the patriarchs; to know in a way which incorporated something or someone into one’s life in such a way that one’s own behaviour is changed - this is the new revelation of God in His name - Adonai!
What lay before the children of Israel was the experience of deliverance, of redemption through no effort of their own. This would be to experience God in a new and as yet undisclosed way captured in two verses in Chapter 6 of Exodus: “I am Adonai, I will bring you out from under the bondage of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as my people and I will be your God. The you shall know that I am Adonai your God who brings you out from under the burden of the Egyptians.” I will bring you out … I will rescue you … I will redeem you … I will take you as my people!

Herein lies something which is at the heart of our soon to be celebrated Pascha, Passover, Easter … these four statements become the four cups of wine which make up the seder supper. He is the God who redeems, who visits us in our times of need and lifts us to a position of favour in his sight. When we experience, rather than just know about this redemption, we gain an insight into God’s revelation of Himself as Adonai - I AM! When we experience bondage and subsequent redemption, our knowledge of God becomes a little more complete - ever the same, yet ever changing.

Thank you Father for the glimpse into the fountain! And as the power behind those plumes of water ebbs away and the fountain becomes the stillness of calm water, we are reminded that without you the noise of this world intrudes into the peace, the shalom which you have come to give us in abundance. And, as the lights of the fountain dim to nothing, the extinguished light allows the darkness to encroach on our lives. How we need your power! How we need your Light! May you use us to be that light and power in this world where darkness and the noise of life crowd you out so often. Come, you are welcome!

posted by David & Marian Sloss @ 11:51 AM 0 comments