(Editor’s note: The following is a submission to The Recorder’s weekly column, “Faith Matters.” Each Saturday, a different faith leader in Franklin County offers a personal perspective in this space. To become part of this series, email religion@recorder.com or call 413-772-0261, ext. 265.)
By REV. TED THORNTON
Episcopal priest
I’m an ordained minister, but I’m not here representing any particular religious group. So, take what follows as a personal reflection. Acts 18:3 tells us that Saint Paul supported himself in his ministry of the gospel by making tents. I, too, have led what’s known as a “tent making ministry” — in my case, as a teacher.
In the Anglican-Episcopal tradition that I belong to, we govern ourselves not only by Holy Scripture, but by church authority and by the examples of saints, those who’ve been formally canonized and those who have not but who’ve served as powerful examples in our personal and communal lives. It’s this latter group — my personal saints — I want to remember here.
In the mid-1980s, I lived in Cairo, Egypt. My main purpose there was to study Arabic, which I eventually taught, along with religious studies and history. I also served on the clergy staff of Cairo’s All Saints Anglican Cathedral.
It’s not easy living as a Christian in a country where you’re in the minority (in Egypt, only 10 percent of the population are Christians). The people there I found most inspiring were notable for the courage it takes to live a life of faith in an environment where you’re greatly outnumbered, not so much by people who hate or despise you, but by those who are indifferent and who make little effort to understand you.
There were many saints who attended either our Arabic- or English-speaking services. One was Ann Kerr, widow of Malcolm Kerr, president of the American University of Beirut who two years earlier had been assassinated by militants during Lebanon’s civil war. After Malcolm’s murder, Ann moved to Cairo to teach English at the American University.
In conversations over dinner at her home and tea in the university garden, she encouraged her lonely minister, recovering from a personal tragedy of his own, to persevere and look purposefully at options for his future. I’ll never forget her wisdom (by the way, she’s the mother of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who, back when I knew Ann, was playing basketball at the University of Arizona, his career in the NBA still ahead of him).
Other saints I came to know in my ministry at the cathedral included Muslims who came to our services in secret so as not to endanger themselves at the hands of unsympathetic families or the government. One, an elderly pensioner named Mustafa, served as usher at our 8 a.m. celebration of the Eucharist each Sunday, a service attended regularly by the American ambassador at the time, Frank Wisner.
Mustafa’s name in the Qur’an means “the chosen” (it was a nickname of the Prophet Muhammad). Mustafa put all of us to shame because he could recite the Anglican liturgy backward and forward from memory. The cathedral had to endure the presence of secret police agents who watched our every move. Mustafa was in constant danger of losing his pension, had the government decided to make an example of him.
These days, the Cathedral is led by Egyptian Bishop Dr. Mouneer Anis. His title, “Doctor,” derives from his previous tent-making vocation as a physician and former administrator of a tiny hospital in a village in the Nile Delta, which is where I first met him. This was before Dr. Mouneer had been ordained. Now he’s Bishop not only of the Diocese of Egypt and North Africa, but also Archbishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Most of the patients Dr. Mouneer and his staff treated in that little hospital were Muslims. Ironically, among their many challenges was this one: while most of their patients were Muslims, the doctors and nurses had to put up with death threats from local Muslim extremists.
I know I’m not alone when I say that the most important reason I try to live a religious life is the example of others who are trying to do the same.
Ted Thornton of Northfield taught religious studies, history, and Arabic at Northfield Mount Hermon School for 34 years and Oak Meadow School in Brattleboro for five years. He worships at Northfield’s Trinitarian Congregational Church and is Supply Clergy for various houses of worship in the area.