Hagia Sophia and Lessons on Forgiveness

**Hagia Sophia

Built by Justinian I as the largest Christian church in the Roman Empire, the Hagia Sophia has undergone many changes throughout its turbulent history and evidence of this is still etched into its walls. The site of the Great Schism, taken over by the Ottomans and turned into a mosque and more recently converted into a museum.

It is one of those sites that you walk into and you feel small. Dwarfed by columns, grand ceilings/mosaics, you feel as if this place was meant to reflect the glory and grandeur of God. Now, however, the stories from the Bible depicted in mosaics are covered up, the crosses rubbed out, overlaid with ornamental Islamic designs, and huge circular discs hang from the ceiling with the verses from the Quran.

To me, it was upsetting to walk through the Hagia Sophia, originally designed to glorify God, and see that it is now a museum, that neither serves as a place to worship Him nor acknowledges Him in a very Islamic society. Sure, there are some of the original church mosaics that they’ve uncovered of Jesus and various disciples, but of the few thousand visitors that pass through the sanctuary, not many leave with the true meaning behind these pictures or a further understanding of the Gospel.

Then, walking into the Blue Mosque was even worse. Also an amazingly grand place with its blue tiles, spacious rooms and domes, the Blue Mosque welcomes visitors when it is not a designated prayer time or holy day, but people must cover themselves (no shorts and women must cover their heads). The thing that struck me about this mosque, or any mosque for that matter, is that even when there are multitudes of people kneeling and praying inside, it feels empty, like something is missing.

When I visited a Jewish synagogue in Santa Barbara while working as a day camp counselor, I experienced a similar feeling. They may be so sincere, crying out to the Lord and knowing that He is holy, but completely missing the point. They are so wrapped up in law and following all the rules, that they miss God’s message of a Savior, Jesus Christ.

Something so unique in the Christian faith is that we have God's Holy Spirit living within us and that unites us across countries as brothers and sisters. When we worship the Lord together, He is present among us and that is never an empty feeling. His Word is living and active, and when we open His Word to read together, it has transformative power.

Though we may have divisions within the Christian Church (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox..and other branches off of those), we know What unites us, Who we're ultimately following, and Where we have to look forward to one day. As the Westmont group and I further examined conflicts within the Middle East and Turkey throughout history and today, there's one powerful word I believe the Islamic society is missing. Forgiveness.

Yes, I will admit that as the Christian Church, we too struggle with exemplifying genuine self-less love and forgiveness, but we have the Holy Spirit which allows us to love in ways that we never could on our own. On the other hand the Sunni and Shi'ah Muslims both have similar core beliefs but their original disagreements over leadership have become deep set divides that have led to countless attacks on each other. The root of bitterness and animosity has grown deep and caused endless tragedy among the places where these groups of Muslims interact. 

It is only in Christ that we have the power to forgive even what we would consider the worst of wrongs. Jesus says: 

Mark 11:25

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. 

This act of forgiving others is so important that Jesus tells us that we need to put priority on setting relationships right before we come to worship Him.

Why should we forgive?

Colossians 3:13

13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Once we grasp how wide and long and high is the love of Christ that never fails us and has completely wiped out our sin, we are more able to forgive others. Rely on His strength to either humble yourself and ask for forgiveness or to say "I forgive you" and mean it with all your heart.

Micah 7:18-19

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.  You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.