| سيادة الرئس الدكتور صبرا، تحيةطيبة و بعد After serving 38 years at the Near East School of Theology, there of 12 years as president of the institution, you will start your well-deserved retirement. As former SiMO students, we have experienced you as a serving Christian, president, teacher, well-read academic, and a humble person to talk and share ideas with. Over the years, you have succeeded in making NEST a safe haven for SiMO students. Your dedication, understanding, and commitment have enabled generations of German students to get to know Lebanon better with all its difficulties and beauties, to experience encounters with its representatives of different religions and denominations, and to enjoy the international and interdenominational community at NEST. Your view of Lebanon and the Middle East has challenged our perspectives and made many things appear in a new light for us. You made us f.e. realize, how threatened and fragile Christianity is in the Middle East without appearing hopeless yourself. On the contrary, through your unshakeable faith – despite the many political and social adversities – you have become an example of faith for many of us. The various experiences at NEST and in Lebanon had a profound impact on many of us, gave us career guidance, and influenced many of our lives until today. The SiMO program has enriched and transformed all of us beyond words. As president, you among others have made this annual academic program possible. For this, we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. It pains us beyond measure that the economic, and political circumstances of recent years have no longer allowed German SiMO students come to NEST regularly. It also pains us that you, the guarantor of this regular exchange, now have to leave NEST, especially in these dark times. We hope and pray for the future of the Middle East, that there will be peace, and that our relationships will survive these difficult days. And so we remain with our warmest regards: We wish you all the best for the coming years, may God bless you and your family, may you continue to share your wisdom with your community and we are looking forward reading your latest book ﻣﺪﺧﻞ إلى اﻟﻼﻫﻮت اﻟﻨﻈﺎﻣﻲ once it is translated into English or German 🙂 (unfortunately, unlike you, who knows German very well, we didn’t master Arabic yet…). Mit den herzlichsten Wünschen, Freunde der NEST eV. |
