Qom, Iran, is a world apart from the rest of the country. The world center for Shi’a education, Qom is populated by seminarians and clerics; devotion to study of Qur’an is the way of life. The fundamentalist clerics who have ruled Iran since the revolution were all educated in Qom and Ayatollah Khomeini based his opposition to the Pahlavi dynasty from there.
The women of Qom do not openly challenge the covering that is a mark of the Islamic Revolution as they do in Tehran and Isfahan where most women wear their hijab on the back half of their head. In fact, the women of Qom almost all wear the more conservative chador that covers from head to toe.
I was worried that we would not make it to Qom, and I don’t think that many of my traveling companions shared my desire to go to the world’s most important center for Shi’a study. It was the last full day that we would spend in Iran and there was hope that we might have an opportunity to meet with former president Mohammad Khatami. But as we had already learned all too well, simply because our hosts told us it might happen, there wasn’t that great of a chance that it would actually happen. So, I and a few others lobbied for the opportunity to go to Qom. It was not too far from the Imam Khomeini International Airport, and there were religious studies professors there waiting to meet with us.
The visit to Qom’s Center for the Study of Religions was not a disappointment, even though just about every member of our delegation was completely exhausted and looking forward to the end of the day when we would board the Lufthansa jet for our trip home. There was the obligatory tea with the professors telling us of the importance of the center for the study of the world’s religions. The scholars on Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism were present and they told us about the study of religions in an Islamic context, and they did a good job at dodging our group’s rather political questions. Then I got to spend some time in the library -- this was why I really wanted to visit Qom. Two students worked with me to try to find the texts I was looking for, but after a very short time, our host came and told me that the bus would soon be leaving for a mosque.
I said my goodbyes to my new friends. (Mahmoud was studying Christianity and he asked if he might be able to email questions to me. I said “Of course.”) Exchanged email addresses and they walked me to the bus, saying goodbye with the traditional three-cheek kiss.
As I was the last one on the bus, there was already discussion about our next stop. One of our delegation members was reading the description of the mosque to the group from her Lonely Planet guide. She tells us that the Jamkaran Mosque is revered as a very holy place in Shi’a Islam and it is said that the Imam Mahdi (the twelfth Imam, or the messianic figure of Shi’a Islam) is said to have visited the site on which the mosque sits. Millions of faithful visit the mosque each year, and on Tuesday nights as many as 300,000 will visit for prayers.
Driving the back roads out of eastern Qom, we see incredible mosques along the way. Each one raises the hope that it must be our destination. One mosque -- all lit in green -- is on top of a very high hill. As the sun is about to set, we see groups of people (including women in chador) climbing the rather steep trail to reach the mosque. But no, the bus keeps going past this, and several other spectacular sites, until we see a huge mosque on the horizon. As we get closer, it looms above the landscape and we can see that there is new construction for an even larger set of minarets and a massive dome. This is it - the Jamkaran Mosque.
As we disembark, we are greeted by Afzali, our guide. We are told to stay with the guide and not to wander off. As we note the size of the complex and the crowds of people, no one has any desire to break away from the group, and we comply (albeit for the first time all trip).
The call to prayer has begun. It is a beautiful lilting chant. With this aural backdrop, Afzali tells us briefly about the history of the Jamkaran Mosque.
He also tells us that the mosque is a popular spot for the faithful because their prayers are answered here. “If on your first visit to Jamkaran, you ask for something with a pure and faithful heart, Allah will grant it to you.”
Soon we are walking across the great complex to the front of the mosque and the chant on the loud speakers changes to the takbir, stated as “Allah Akbar” (God is the greatest). There are two voices: a tenor repeats the takbir and a baritone is making longer prayers. The women are separated from us and taken to their own entry into the mosque. We sit on the steps and remove our shoes. Then we are ushered into the great mosque.
The Jamkaran is already full and I see the origin of the two voices for the first time. Two men stand at podiums at the front of the gathering of men. At the entry, there is a large vat of the stones that Shi’a faithful put on the ground in front of them as they pray. We know from previous discussions that this is a reminder that we are from dirt -- a close connection to our ashes on Ash Wednesday.
There is a large partition down the middle of the mosque and we know that the women are on the other side; this experience of prayer is the first time that I have had a single-sex religious experience (there was the Orthodox Synagogue in Tehran, but the women were not out of sight, simply sitting on the other side of the room). To see a room full of what must have been about 2,000 faithful men moves me in a way I had not expected. I long to participate in the prayers, but instead I sit with the rest of the men as a religio-tourist in this deeply spiritual place. Later, I find out that the women actually participated in the prayers. One of the women in our delegation tells me that for the first time she welcomes wearing the chador because it takes her from the communal to the personal as she knelt down becoming wrapped in a cocoon of prayer.
We were told that we could not take photos or video inside the mosque, but I ask our guide if I can record audio. This is not a problem so I set up my microphone and record the prayers (and the coughing of our government guide). As I listen closely to what I am recording, I am struck by a few things. In the middle of the sea of men is a man who is trying to calm his toddler-aged son. The child is crying, and his loving father has stopped the motions of standing and bowing and kneeling so that he can sit and bounce his son on his knee. No one seems fazed by the crying. Then I am struck by the sound of the takbir. In a strange way, there are parts of it that sound like the chanting of the Gospel. It doesn’t seem foreign to me whatsoever. I am struck by the different levels of vocal participation of the men during the prayers. It reminds me of the Prayers of the People, and how different people respond to the opportunity to make their petitions out loud. Some mutter, some speak in audible tones. As I look around, I am struck at how the others in my group are completely mesmerized by the moment.
Then I decide to turn off my reporter mode and simply be in the moment. I stop, sit quietly, and begin to go into a trance. The previous two weeks come rushing over me like a waterfall of experiences. Meeting with Armenian Christians in Tehran and Isfahan, attending Orthodox Synagogue in Tehran, walking along the muraled wall outside the former American Embassy, listening to Persian sitar on the street outside the Tehran Conservatory of Music, interviewing a religion writer for the Tehran Times, sipping tea in a carpet shop in a bazaar in Isfahan, striking up conversations with clerics on the street, meeting Ahmadinejad’s spiritual advisor, sipping soup in the world’s oldest hotel, walking the streets of an ancient Zoroastrian village, visiting Khomeini’s home, touching the tomb of Hafez - all come rolling over me in a wash of experience like an ablution from all of the assumptions that I arrived in Iran with.
So, this will be weird. I’ve written tons of stuff to post, but the one thing that I never really understood until half way through the trip is that Iran has mostly 56.6 k dial-up (remember that) and it goes through frequent spats of downtime. I have almost 1,500 photos, 60 hours of unedited audio, 100 hours of unedited video, and virtual reams of blog entries. So, how to upload them?
Now that I have a bit of reflection time I think that I will commit myself to one post on Iran per day for the next week, then we’ll see where we are. There will be some real surprises, and I’m not really sure that I want to post them in chronological order as my memories aren’t necessarily in chronological order. I am decided that the final post will be a writing that I’ve been working on throughout this trip titled “Assumptions.” “Assumptions” is my reflection on the presuppositions I made before going to Iran, and how most of them were altered, or slightly skewed, of just flat out wrong.
Currently, I’m sitting in the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, that’s right, I entered the “Axis of Evil” and lived to tell the tale... and I can’t wait to return. If it wasn’t for the constant fear of what my own government will do to that wonderfully rich, ancient, creative, hospitable, diverse and multi-faceted gem of a country, I might even take my wife and children.
So, I begin with these photos and my first entry of writing from Iran will be posted from JFK.
much peace,
sean
Salaam!
Well we made it out of the airport and I think that I finally got to my room at 6 a.m. At about 6:15, there was a really loud crash on the street 14 floors below. I looked out the window and a police car had hit a station wagon. Both were twisted and up on the sidewalk. I crashed too.
After a deep 3 1/2 hours sleep, I got up and went with a group of my fellow diplomats to meet Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, Primate of the Armenian Prelacy of Tehran. What a warm and wonderful opportunity it was to meet with this spiritual leader of a Christian minority in Iran. He sees the purpose of the Armenian Orthodox Church as a container to maintain national identity and to teach young Armenians about their history "and all the things we have lost." He was a very honest speaker, telling us that the problems in this part of the world are not due to religious difference but political, and he told us about the work of inter-religious dialogue in Iran. For one thing, people involved in this dialogue don't discuss matters of belief or theology -- they find the things that they hold in common (like service to the poor, human rights, education and family life) and that is where they find valuable connections with one another. I recorded a lot of the meeting and have hopes to get some of it up on episcopod.com by tomorrow or Saturday.
First impressions: I'm really struck by how wonderfully we are being treated, and how obvious our similarities are. What they say about the age of Iranians is also true, there are young people every where. As we walked down the street to our meeting this morning, boys of about 9 or 10 were saying "hello" and waving to us. I guess we are pretty obvious Americans. But many Iranians look to be in their 20s.
Driving into Tehran at night was really amazing -- the mosques are all lit up with thousands of colorful lights. There are trees that are completely lit up with what look like neon Christmas tree lights -- it is hard to explain but I did shoot a lot of video. The bus driver who brought us from the airport really likes Celine Dion and was playing the stereo much too loud for my travel-weary head. But then again it was Celine Dion, just hearing it was painful. I'm still not sure how to cross the street because cars don't really stop at intersections and that makes me worry somewhat about all of the bus travel we will be doing. I tried dhoog (the traditional yoghurt drink) and I'm glad I did. I was the only one at the lunch table who liked it. There is a scroll at the bottom of IRANN (the Iranian CNN) in English and it says that the Pentagon denies that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating. I'm really excited to go to a bazaar this afternoon. The weather is actually quite delightful, it's in the 80s and there is a cool breeze blowing. Farsi is a beautiful language. And I really miss my family.
I plan to do more detail as we meet with different religious and political figures, and I will get up a podcast soon. Finding the time to do production will be difficult, but I will do my best. My travel photos will be posted at flickr.com/photos/diocal.
Wishing you all peace,
sean
Okay, this is a weird post, because we are all sitting in the airport in Tehran waiting to get our passports back. Everyone of us got finger printed and i will post a pic of my blue fingers later. No one else going through Iranian customs has been finger printed that I've seen. We all were and we're now waiting to see what happens next. The Iranians probably aren't sure about us because none of us have showered and we've been sleeping in our clothes for two days.
It's been a while. I guess I'm not much of a blogger. But I'm going to try to do better. Especially since I leave Tuesday, April 29, for Iran. I will be going with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the group of citizen diplomats is a really amazing group of people. I don't really know what my internet access will be like, but I am hoping to be able to post here. If I'm not able to sign into Vox, then I will try to email postings to my colleague Monica for her to upload. In other words, the communications might not be instant or regular, but we will do our best to keep you informed. I also plan to post photos on DioCal's flickr photostream.
This from meditatio:
We've recently begun a Taizé style worship service on Thursday evenings at my parish. The impetus came from our School for Deacons field education student, Judy Hedin, who has experienced this form of worship at her home parish and at the ecumenical monastery in Taizé, France. Judy has a passionate vision of how such worship can reach out to new people, especially young adults. That vision is being realized through Judy's leadership, the musical talent of Charles Rus, our parish musician and cantor, and the parishioners who are showing up to pray and assist with logistics.
Thus far, we are averaging 24 people at this new service (only two weeks old). Last night, we had 10-12 visitors in the congregation, and they were indeed younger than our parish profile. We've flyered the neighborhood and advertised in the local papers, and that is having some effect. People seem drawn to the beauty, simplicity, and contemplative spirit of this form of worship. It is highly participatory, and folks are free to move around during the chanting to pray in the side chapels, light candles, or venerate the cross. People sit on chairs or cushions on the floor, bathed in candlelight.
Episcopal A-lister and über geek punk monk is one of the most connected info consumers i know, and he's about to get disconnected in a big way. his lenten reflection about what is about to happen to him is a great read for those of us who find that God challenges us by calling us to step out of our habits (so to speak).
[snip] No news; no gossip or scandal; no quick and easy way to look up a fact I do not know; or answer a question with the immediacy of the digital age. No way to write a quick article or reflection or hammer out a new poem on the keyboard. Heavens... I may have to actually use pen and paper! [/snip] punk monk's blog
In the years following Johannes Guttenberg's invention of movable type, a conservative backlash against press printed books spread across Europe. The mass production of books made them less expensive and more available, and wealthier collectors considered them to be common and less desirable than hand-wrought texts.
In the years following the introduction of the Mosaic Web Browser (1993), computer users started learning and teaching one another basic Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), and they began posting web pages about whatever interested them. Many types of web pages were created; common users began documenting their interests and sharing sources of information as web logs (weblogs :: blogs). Again, skeptical consumers of information sneered at this new form of communication as they struggled to discern truth in the growing number of postings.
In the year 2000, Rick Johnson, then Director of Grace Cathedral's GraceCom, asked me to join him at conferences around the Episcopal Church to present workshops on effective church websites. What I noticed as I started talking to people about the growth of blogs, was a growing distrust of blogs as sources of reliable information. "How do you know you can trust what you read in a blog?" These questions came just two years after Matt Drudge blogged that Newsweek had information about an affair between the President of the United States and a White House intern.
Seven years ago, blogs as news and sources of news created a firestorm among the mainstream media, and among consumers of information who were realizing that a trend toward speedier content delivery was developing in content distribution.
Now, seven short years later, all that is reported, related, shared, and cross-referenced in blogs has created a virtual galaxy of information some call "the blogosphere." Whatever your interest, or need, or area of research, you can find communities of people sharing and commenting on just about anything.
Trusting the information is still an issue. Dave Kim, blogger and Global Sales Intranet Manager of Symantec Corporation says that you trust blogs the way you would trust information in any community of discourse. "Blogs in and of themselves are rarely reliable. They must have other sources -- links to groups who are talking about the same issues," Kim told me in a recent IM chat. "Over time you grow to trust blogs for different reasons. Some group blogs you simply grow to rely on over time: i.e. reading Gizmodo for tech news."
Kim also told me "There is a community of what they call A-listers. They get the big hit counts. How they become A-listers is subjective, it's like celebrity."
Kim's blog is more about making connections with friends than breaking news. He blogs to share personal thoughts and photos with his community of friends. In eight years his blog has had two million hits. "I'm not an A-lister by any means," says Kim. "My friend Ernie gets five million hits a year. Do you know how many small companies would kill for that kind of traffic? :)"
According to Kim and others, you can grow to trust the credibility of a blogger by the number of other bloggers producing worthwhile information that link to them. If blogs or other websites that you trust frequently link to them, you are more likely to return to them for information. Blog trust is similar to brand loyalty.
Church in the Blogosphere
In the Episcopal Church, bloggers have become like the monk scribes of old, scribbling marginal notes on scripture, philosophy, prayer, meditation, church governance (polity), social justice, any thing of interest to them, and to the church.
One such virtual scribbler who has risen to the ranks of Episcopal A-lister is an East Coast priest who calls himself Fr. Jake (not his real name). In his profile Jake says that he chose the name because, "since I first read the story as a child, I have identified with Jacob. He's a bit of a rascal, wrestles with the angels, yet still blessed in spite of himself." Fr. Jake's blog, "Father Jake Stops the World," has a large community of readers on all sides of issues who post comments on his blog. Fr. Jake tends to come down on the more progressive side of church politics, while his spirituality has depth and maturity. A number of comments argue with his positions, no one questions his faith.
Another A-list blog on the national level is "Titus 1:9." Managed by the Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon, Canon Theologian for the Diocese of South Carolina, "Titus 1:9" is a news aggregation site. In other words, Harmon posts links to news stories from sources all over the internet. He is a champion of those who identify more closely with the Primates of the Global South than as members in TEC, and he has coined two labels that have made it into broader debate in the Church: "reappraisers" and "reasserters." "I have sought again and again to describe this debate," writes Harmon, "as one between reappraisers, those who believe the biblical and traditional witness in sexual ethics needs to reappraised [sic] in the light of new knowledge, and reasserters, those who are more than willing to dig again into the foundation sources and thereby to reassert the standard which is still ironically officially unchanged in the Episcopal Church today."
The sheer volume of content posted daily on "Titus 1:9" is a testimony to the vitality of the blogosphere. Many have questioned how he does it. Answer: "Web elves," or trusted helpers. The reference for Titus 1:9? "He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it." I would be remiss not to point out the satirical site "Titus 1:10" [titusoneten.blogspot.com], which cites the King James Version: "For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers..."
Another blog on the Episcopal A-list is "daily episcopalian." Jim Naughton, author and journalist (New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, ESPN) turned Communications Director of the Diocese of Washington, must start each day by reading a stack of blogs. Naughton regularly tells you what's going on at a whole host of different Episcopalian and Anglican bloggers' websites. "daily episcopalian" (an official blog of the Diocese of Washington) actually started as "The Blog of Daniel," a blog that tracked the short-lived NBC comedy/drama called "The Book of Daniel," about a pill-popping Episcopal priest. The show built a strong audience of Episcopalian fans and critics early on, many of whom were looking for a place to talk with others about "Book of Daniel" episodes. When the show was cancelled, readers and Naughton did not want to give up on this new community, so he kept blogging and changed the name to "daily episcopalian." Rumor has it that Naughton is working on a group blog (a blog with more than one contributor) with colleagues from throughout the Episcopal Church and that it will be live before Easter. Stay tuned to "daily episcopalian" for more news about that.
There is a brand new blog that deserves mention because it is a semi-official blog of the Episcopal Church (TEC). The brain-child of the Rev. Jan Nunley, Deputy for Communication at TEC, and designer Wade Hampton, "EpiScope" is primarily a news aggregation site, with some original content as well. One of "EpiScope's" greatest assets to date is its blog-roll (links to blogs covering similar topics) of Episcopal/Anglican bloggers from left, right and center, and broken down in that way. "EpiScope" provides a great list of Episcopal A-listers. The content is A-list as well.
Episcopal California's A-list
In the Diocese of California, there are many priests, deacons, and lay people who blog, and they blog about all sorts of things. The Rev. Stacey Grossman is Rector of Church of the Nativity, San Rafael, and a competitive rower in the Marin Rowing Association. Her blog, "RevRows!," is mostly about her competitive rowing life. Most of her entries are brief, and -- like most churchy blogs -- use inside language. (Grossman mentions that she "erged," and a few other words I've never heard of.) Watch for the occasional theological reflection in Grossman's blog. One entry provides interesting reading about how as a rower she identifies with Jesus' disciples in the act of rowing.
A complement to Grossman is Tracy Longacre, a deacon from Menlo Park whose blog "RevRuns!" is about -- you guessed it -- running. Longacre is actually one of the most wired clergy in our diocese. Currently serving at the Presbyterian Rural Training Centre (PRTC), Fonta in the North West Province, Cameroon, Longacre blogs about her experience in Cameroon. She posts photos from her daily life on Flickr, more of her best photos on her photo site, and she also maintains a more personal blog. (She is even experimenting with a lot of Web 2.0 applications, but that's a whole other article.) Longacre is definitely a member of our diocesan A-list.
But perhaps the geekiest of all our A-listers is the "Punk Monk." Br. Karekin Yarian is a member of the Brotherhood of St. Gregory and is the Minister Provincial in Province 8. You might be most familiar with his work if you use any of the Rite Series® software. Yarian is a chief developer for The Rite Stuff, and the other software in the series.
I first became aware of him in 2002 when I was at a party hosted by Harper San Francisco. I was introduced to Jay Bakker, and we were talking, and he kept saying, "I have to meet the Punk Monk. Is he here? Have you seen him?" And pretty soon, there was this monk who looked... well... like a punk. Bakker was a fan of Yarian's blog back then (and if you've been blogging since '02, you've been around for a long time). Currently Yarian is working as the church administrator at Trinity, SF, and will probably dial-Trinity-in as one of the most wired churches in the Diocese. You'll find lot's of great Web 2.0 tinkering in his "punkmonk sf menu."
Another of our A-listers is the Rev. John Kirkley, Rector of St. John the Evangelist, San Francisco, and President of Oasis California. Kirkley blogs about everything from family life to Anglican/Episcopal politics on his blog "Meditatio." "Meditatio" frequently gets linked to by TEC A-listers, and Kirkley is a respected voice for the full inclusion of all baptized persons in the church throughout the world. He also is a regular contributor -- with a little help from CDSP student Tom Jackson -- to the Oasis news blog.
Another superb clergy blog is "Caught By the Light," maintained by the Rev. Richard Helmer, Rector of Church of Our Saviour, Mill Valley. Helmer is a prolific writer who pours a lot of heart and soul into each post. He is also a frequent commenter on a large number of other blogs. And, what I really love about Helmer is that he's a great preacher; I know this because I've listened to his sermon podcasts. They are linked to from his blog, and you can also find them on the website of Church of Our Saviour, which is a model for church websites everywhere.
Both the Rev. Gail Greenwell, Rector, and the Rev. Amber Evans, Associate for Youth and Children's Ministry, at Church of the Epiphany, San Carlos, keep a blog at "Irreverent Epiphanies." If you were ever looking for one place to find all of the NPR stories of interest to passionate people of faith, Evans posts many of them -- and other great stuff -- on "Irreverent Epiphanies."
And for fear that he might blog about me if I don't mention him, the Rev. Robert Warren Cromey, retired Rector of Trinity, San Francisco, and diocesan gadfly, writes about justice, preaching, and church growth at "Cromey Online." Cromey has a discipline of writing 500 words every morning whether he feels like it or not -- a habit that all preachers and church communicators should emulate.
Finally, our diocesan A-list has a new player. This new blogger jumps into the A-list after a short time blogging because as soon as he started blogging, a large number of TEC's A-listers started paying attention to him. Bishop Marc's blog is BishopMarc.com, and features new posts weekly from the bishop and invited contributors. When asked why a blog, Bishop Marc responds simply, "So that we might become the beloved community." While Bishop Marc blogs primarily about Wisdom Christianity, what he has called "the marriage of contemplation and a commitment to social justice," he also posts observations about news in the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion, and the world. You can find audio of his sermons in his blog, and links to interviews with Bishop Marc in the mainstream media.
This list is by no means exhaustive, and I would love to find out more about who is blogging in the Diocese, so please send links to PCN@diocal.org, and we might just add your favorite blog to our A-list.
Sidebar:
Of course some of you are probably wondering why I've failed to mention video blogs (or v-logs). Well the reason is that I haven't seen anything that qualifies as a v-log produced within our diocese … yet. Of course, the Very Rev. Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral has been posting video messages at www.GraceCathedral.org for years, but I'm not sure I'm ready to call those posts v-logs. So, here's a challenge: Who among you will be the first to post a regular v-log? The finest example of an Episcopal v-log is "Father Matthew Presents," he sets the bar high.
Well, there you go, cruising along, minding your own business, when ***SLAM***, your life gets changed.
For me it happened on Halloween. BOO! Actually, it wasn't a trick, it was a treat.
My baby daughter was born at 2:11 p.m., included is a picture of her big brother holding her for the first time. So, I took some time away from all things Episcopal and webby (except for my personal email account of course), and played new dad one more time. Actually, now that we have one of each I think we'll stop.
So, hang in there ... more IN-spiriation to come.
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