Perspectives on Turkey
I have just returned from a visit to Turkey - the latest country which is about to start negotiations to join the European Union (see BBC website report).
My senses are still reeling from its many contrasts.
Even in a brief few days, I have seen beauty and neglect, wealth and want, freedom and restriction.
Inside Ankara's principal mosque there is the beauty of the mosaics adorning walls and ceiling, and yet a short taxi ride away there is rubbish rotting outside the homes of the city's poorest people.
In the city's wealthier districts there are shopping malls with the latest goods and the flashiest modern architecture in which to display them, and a few hours away there are churches and houses hollowed out of the rocks by hand in the first centuries of the Common Era. Of all the places I have been privileged to visit, it feels like the oldest.
Perhaps this is not surprising, as it boasts the world's oldest city, dating back to 6800 BCE.
Over the centuries, this beautiful land has been conquered by Phrygians, Hittites, Romans, Greeks and others.
It is often referred to as the 'cradle of civilization', but that cradle has been rocked violently by many invaders.
After all, it is stuck in the middle - sandwiched between Europe to the West and Asia to the East, the Black Sea to the North and the Mediterranean to the South.
Or is it?
To us, with our European point of view, it appears to be right in the middle of the world map.
Things might be different; however, were we looking from a South American perspective, or an African one.
Our cartographical portrayal of the world reveals as much about our fundamental outlook as the ancient maps which show only the known parts of the world, and mark the edges with the dire warning that "here be dragons"!
We are incapable of looking at the world in a truly unbiased way.
God alone sees the world as it truly is.
He is not dazzled by the colours of the different flags as they flutter, overawed by the power of the great, nor despondent at the vulnerability of the small.
When he looks at the world, his only bias is the feeling of pride and love for something which he has created with his own hands.
As Christians look out at the world, from whichever viewpoint, their deep desire should be to gain God's perspective on it all.
If you have visited this site from elsewhere in the world - why not get out the map and pray for the countries which stand between us and you right now?
New perspectives don't grow overnight, but God is always willing to share His with us.
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