Reflections by Stephen Coats based on the memoirs of Nancy Coats
As I reflect on our Yemeni neighbors and friends and how spiritual they were, a few things stood out, they were Muslims, prayed face down on the ground, they did not eat pork, washed before they prayed and avoided alcohol. They celebrated the Prophet’s birthday and the holy month of fasting, Ramadan. To our surprise, there was some common ground with our Muslim friends as they would observe the Eid Al-Adha to commemorate Abraham offering up his son as a sacrifice to God out of obedience. Mom wrote, “It is as big as the celebration at the end of Ramadan and the children get new clothes and gifts. We took some gifts to Fatima and Mohamed and the children (our neighbors). The stores were all closed and we couldn’t even find bread.” My parents did appreciate the conservative aspects of Yemeni Muslims, women dressing modestly that encouraged the foreign women to follow suit and wear pants under their dresses, sometimes wear scarves, and have sleeves below the elbow.
Singing a solo at “church” in our home
As different as our Yemeni neighbor’s spiritual journey was from ours, most of the others in the International expatriate community were also very “strange” to us. The Dutch would place helpings of various foods on their plate and then stir them all together and eat. The Ethiopians we knew were mostly Christian Orthodox, a totally different form of Christianity than my Baptist family. The Charismatic Christians would speak in other languages that they didn’t even know, that was kind of weird.
In the midst of all the cultural variety was a beautiful unity in the international community that I noticed. Christian Protestants and Catholics would put down their differences and come together to share worship facilities, holiday celebrations and Bible studies. We had more in common than we had different. But, as Christians in a Muslim country, we had to adjust some things. To line up with the weekly calendar in Yemen, we held worship services on Fridays and had “Friday Club” for the children to educate us on the Bible and teachings of Jesus, instead of “Sunday School.” I remember my mother would play the piano and teach the children while my aunt led the group singing. The government approved and let the Christians gather we just couldn’t involve Muslims in these gatherings for risk of getting kicked out of the country. Some of our Christian magazines and reading materials somehow never arrived in Yemen in the shipping container for which Mom was disappointed. There was no formal/official pastor or priest so various men from the International community would take turns leading and teaching about Jesus from the Bible. Some international Christian organizations were allowed in the country to do work in places like hospitals and clinics.
On one occasion in 1977, the internationally renowned Catholic nun, Mother Teresa, was in Sana’a visiting a local home for the children. She later came to speak at our multicultural Bible Study on a rainy evening. The wadi (Arabic for ravine) was full, so we offered to drive Mother Theresa home in our car, which she appreciated. I don’t actually remember this historic event but looking back I was honored to have met one of the greatest Christians of our time in Yemen. She would return numerous times over the coming years.
My mother noted, “The rich spiritual history of Yemen is fascinating. We read that the hill outside Sana’a is supposed to be where one of Noah’s (Prophet Nuh) son’s had his house Shem.” I had to check on that and found that Wikipedia says, “Sana’a is one of the oldest populated places in the world. According to popular legend, it was founded by Shem, the son of Noah. It was known as “Azal” in ancient times, which has been connected to Uzal, a son of Qahtan, a great-grandson of Shem, in the biblical accounts of Genesis.”
Looking through all of my mom’s letter and writings, Christmas was always a big deal and at the core of her Messiah focused spirituality; we celebrated whole-heartedly and freely. No snow and shopping malls but just lots of love, presents, food, gift baskets to the neighbors, and remembering the virgin birth by memorizing the Gospel of Saint Luke chapter 2. Mom wrote an annual Christmas letter to family detailing our time in Yemen that year, and we recorded cassette tapes to send home with singing, silly stories and many greetings! There were plenty of parties with special holiday foods, German cakes, cookies, “Christmas Carol” readings and even a roast turkey now and then. We exchanged gifts and acquired a Christmas tree. It was all so different and yet so normal for me to have these kind of hodge-podge Christmases. I guess that is why I still have a propensity to tweak traditions and reinvent them to be my own.
And so it was in Yemen that I had my first spiritual encounter with Jesus the Messiah at a young age. One night at our home in Sana’a, God’s presence was very real to me. I knew I made mistakes, was not perfect and was a sinner. I wanted to turn away from sin and I knew I needed God’s redemption, so that night I asked God to forgive my sin, and decided to follow Jesus with all aspects of my being!
Zabid Mosque built in 628 AD
In 1977, after the assassination of President Ibrahim Mohamed Al-Hamdi and his brother Abdulla, we were confined to our home for several days and had to miss the church service. So us kids decided to create one at home on the third day of our government recommended lockdown. Mom wrote, “the church service was real good. Sara (my sister) was song leader and picked out the hymns including 2 for Christmas. Then Tim (my brother) got up in between hymns and had each of us read a passage of Scripture. Sara had made a pulpit out of the muffrage (cushions that lay on the floor like a low couch) stacked up, and in the middle of Tim’s reading, he leaned so hard that the whole thing fell down! Oh, Stephen sang a solo.”
The spiritual climate was rich and varied living in Yemen as an American Christian boy, and we thrived there. I will always look back on Yemen as my spiritual birthplace, a new life begun. This is also why my prayers and heart will always be for the warm Yemeni people that I was blessed to call neighbors—both then and now.
