Fencing Bear at Prayer

I am embarrassed to say that, until recently, I didn't even know there were Christians living in Iraq.  Okay, that is not quite true.  I knew that there were Christians in Erbil because my husband spent a month or so there several years ago training museum conservators, and I remember his talking about the Christmas displays in some of the shops.  But I never thought much about the fact that there were Christians in what we in America tend to think of as a Muslim country. Did you?  Do you now?  Have you seen the reports of the massacres?  The crucifixions?  The rapes?  Do you know that Christian houses are being marked with the sign of the Nazarene ( ن)  as a mark of shame ? What do we do about this, we in the West?  Where are the protests against the genocide?  Where is the outrage?  Some of my friends on Facebook changed their profile pictures to the sign, but that's about it.  Only occasionally have we mentioned the...

Six years ago, when I started this blog, my first post was a prayer .  Now, after falling more or less silent for over a year, I find I would like to start blogging again, but I am afraid. Perhaps I should start yet another new blog , but that hasn't gone too well. I had such high hopes in starting this one, it has probably been a good thing that I haven't had much to say this past year. I am still waiting on the peer review reports on my book manuscript --it has been almost a year since I sent it in. I don't know whether this is usual in academic publishing for books, but it is still par for the course on articles. I have tried to keep writing this past year, and in fact have finished several other shorter pieces, but I am losing heart.  There is nothing worse for a writer than feeling like nobody is listening, nobody understands. My husband once told me that the Virgin Mary told him that she  was my only proper audience. I need to keep writing for her. So, here is my pr...