Editorials
"Trust the new paths"
Adult baptism in the German-speaking congregation in Damascus
June 22, 2010
The German-speaking community residing in Damascus had come together through the crooked streets and lanes of the old city's Christian quarter. In the Ananias Chapel they struck up the hymn "Vertraut den neuen Wegen" (Trust the new paths). Ananias, a Jew, is said to have healed Saul of his blindness in the house across the street. The Early Christian basement chapel is regarded as one of the oldest Christian places of prayer in Damascus.
Again it was the scene of a special event: a young man working at the German embassy was to be baptized by Rev. Jonas Weiß-Lange. This adult baptism had been preceded by several months of baptismal instruction. The two of them prepared for the baptism whenever Pastor Weiß-Lange was in Damascus for services and confirmation classes. Jonas Weiß-Lange Pfarrer has been serving the German-speaking Protestant congregation in Beirut since September 2009 and is thus also responsible for Syria.
The congregation meets on a Saturday at the place where Paul, too, became a Christian. Thirty-five adults and six children filled the small church, unperturbed by the tourists entering from time to time. A small group from Switzerland even stayed and joined in the Lord's Supper.
Paul also spoke up in the service when a young woman read from the Song of Songs. The text was interpreted in the sermon, and the references to love bathed the tiny chapel in a new light.
"Bewahre uns Gott, behüte uns Gott" (preserve us God, protect us God) was the last hymn before the benediction. The congregation sang it with fervor. They live in Syria without major restrictions and harassment. But the few Protestant Germans in the country constitute a tiny minority. Opportunities to meet-like this act of worship-do the diaspora community good: the newly baptized man and his wife, who had flown in especially from Germany, members of the German and Austrian embassies and all the members of the congregation who have lived sometimes for decades in the fascinating capital of Syria.