Spiritual Highlights

I don’t plan to use my blog to give you a moment-by-moment account of our time in the Holy Land, but I do want to give you some idea of what we’re seeing.  Let me mention a few highlights from this past week.

On Wednesday morning we began at the top of the Mount of Olives and worked our way down the mount to the Kidron Valley.  For the sake of our church, Ascension, I should mention that we visited one site that has been associated with Jesus’ Ascension, which now, ironically, is supervised by Muslims.  More important to me was a visit to the Pater Noster (Lord’s Prayer) Church.  Also a possible site for the Ascension, this site preserves a cave where Jesus may have withdrawn for prayer and teaching his disciples.  Jesus didn’t teach the Lord’s Prayer here but may have used it in this place.  The site has the Lord’s Prayer printed with beautiful ceramic tiles in over 50 languages.  I found it special to join with our group in praying the Lord’s Prayer there — and then having our group members recite the Lord’s Prayer in their native languages — Maori, Samoan, Polish, Spanish.  Further down the mount we visited the Church of All Nations, built on the supposed site of the Garden of Gethsemane.  The church had a beautiful

Olive Trees in the Garden of Gethsemane

garden with large, old, gnarled olive trees.  Were they there at the time of Jesus?  Probably not, but the roots of some of the current trees may actually be that old.

Friday we visited the Western Wall.  I joined other men, many Jews dressed in various kinds of Hasidic clothes, to pray at the wall.  (This wall contains stones that remain from the foundation of Herod’s Temple in Jesus’ time.)  It was a special moment for me to touch those stones that were there in Jesus’ day and pray — pray for my family, pray for you and our Ascension family, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Roger Praying at the Western Wall

After that we continued on to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  This church goes back to a church that was built by St. Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, around 340 A.D.  The church is supposedly built over the place of Calvary and the empty tomb.  (The church is jointly administered by several, often feuding Christian groups; a Muslim family is the keeper of the key to the church because none of the Christian groups trust each other with the key!)  For Protestant tastes, the church is overdone, but it reflects the typical piety and decoration of Eastern Orthodox churches.  We climbed up to a couple of altars built at the site of the crucifixion; I touched the stone that supposedly lay at the base of the cross and caught Jesus’ blood; we climbed down from Calvary and entered the tomb where Jesus was buried and from which he was raised from the dead.  It was a special moment to pray at that traditional place of resurrection.

A day in the previous week we visited what is called “The Garden Tomb.”  Although most scholars doubt that this is the original place where Jesus was buried, it was identified by a British General Gordon in the 19th century as a more likely place for Jesus’ death and burial.  There is a rock formation that looks like a skull (”Golgotha” and “Calvary” mean “the place of the skull”); a first century tomb has been found there, and the site has a lovely garden.  Whatever the historicity of the site, it is a beautiful place to visit; the quiet and beautiful garden lends itself to meditation and reflection on Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

People here tell the story of someone who came here intending to write a book about the current political situation in the Holy Land.  The person stayed two weeks and decided to write an article instead.  After a month the would-be author returned home without writing anything.  In other words, the political situation here is so overwhelmingly complex that the better part of wisdom is to keep silent.  But I’ve never been wise enough to keep my mouth shut.

I’d like to share some of my thoughts based on our experiences here over the last four weeks, admitting that new ideas may still emerge in the days ahead.  I surely have learned some things, but previous impressions have also been reinforced.  I want to share some general perceptions that I think most observers here would agree to (although expecting general agreement is usually an unrealistic hope here).  I may feel more strongly about some of the points below than my words reflect, but I am trying to be fair.

We have heard repeatedly — from Jews and Palestinians alike — that the majority of people here — Jews and Palestinians both — want peace.  60% is a figure we’ve been told.  Now it may be true that a good percentage of this majority simply want to live a decent life without fear or harrassment and are not necessarily eager for dialogue and reconciliation with someone of a different religion or ethnic group.  But I have met several people — both Jews and Palestinians — who are examples of people seeking in various active ways to build bridges and achieve peaceful reconciliation.  I fear that in the United States we don’t get this message; we may well get the message that Palestinians are terrorists and Jews are religious fanatics who are building settlements in the occupied territories.  There may be some small percentage of the people here who reflect these stereotypes, but it is by no means commonly true.  I wish that our media would do a better job of covering the full range of political positions here in the Holy Land.

What kind of peace?  The favored position is the 2 State Solution with Jerusalem as a shared city.  The woman who presented Jewish beliefs and practices to us quoted a Palestinian woman who has been her counterpart in peace activities (and said that she could say the same): “This land will always be my homeland, but for the sake of peace I will be content to live in half of my homeland.”

The separation barrier/wall is surely controversial.  We can see it from here at Tantur; in fact we have to go through it every time we pass through the Israeli checkpoint on our way into Bethlehem.  Israelis claim that terrorist attacks have decreased markedly since the wall has gone up.  Others criticize it for making the daily movement of ordinary Palestinians unreasonably difficult and for being another “land grab,” since it has been built further into Palestinian territory than previously accepted boundary lines.

One of our speakers distinguished between “the land of Israel,” “the nation of Israel,” and “the government of Israel.”  She claimed that all Jews feel an attachment to the land of Israel; the promise of the Promised Land after the Exodus was and surely remains a deeply significant part of Jewish religious faith.  Not all Jews, however, are committed to the nation of Israel, but Zionists and others who support the idea of a homeland for Jews are.  The government of Israel is a different matter, however; even Jews criticize whatever government is in power.  Criticizing the current government of Israel is not necessarily anti-Semitic — even though one is given the impression sometimes in the United States that it is.

The situation here is complicated by the pain on both sides.  I visited Yad VaShem, the Holocaust Memorial.  I know that there were “righteous Gentiles” who helped save Jewish lives during World War II, but I also know that Christians and Christianity bear some responsibility for the anti-Semitism of the Nazi state.  I also see the oppressiveness of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and I have observed the difficulties faced by ordinary Palestinians.  Even though the Israeli government gives a rationale, the unprovoked demolition of ordinary Palestinian homes appears so unjust to us.  These experiences of being victims, even though quite different, make achieving peace difficult.

Perhaps our ELCA connections with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land have made me more aware of Palestinian concerns, but I do feel that the American public and our U.S. government do not give fair attention to legitimate Palestinian concerns for justice.  I was disappointed — and so were Palestinians and others concerned for peace here — that during his one day here this week Barack Obama spent 45 minutes visiting with the leader of the Palestine National Authority and the rest of the day with Israeli leaders and at Jewish sites.  If he had time to go to the Western Wall and pray with Jews, could he have walked the Via Dolorosa with Christians?  (Actually, I admit that would be unrealistic; the security arrangements through the narrow streets of the Old City of Jerusalem would have been an absolute nightmare.)  Now, I’m not being partisan political; if John McCain would have been here, I would probably be making the same comments.

What shall we do?  Find ways to support those who are working for peace.  And pray — follow Psalm 126 and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Meeting With Bishop Younan

Pastor Timm meeting with Bishop Munib Younan of the ELCJHL

On Friday, July 25th, Marilyn and I met with Bishop Dr. Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL).  He received us quite graciously and gave us his welcome to the Holy Land.  The ELCJHL has six churches here in Amman, Bethlehem, Beit Sahour, Beit Jala, Jerusalem, and Ramallah.  Their ministries include a number of schools and programs like the ones I described in my comments on our visit to Bethlehem.  Their mission includes teaching, witnessing for justice, creating hope, peace-building, and keeping local Christians in the Holy Land.

After talking about mutual acquaintances (Bishop Younan has worked with our synod’s Working Group for Middle East Peace and Rev. Paul Koch and Del Leppke; he knows Pastors Said Aelabouni and Gabi Aelabouni whose families hail from Galilee; his son worked as an intern in the ELCA’s Global Unit when Marilyn worked there), I asked him what message we should take back to the United States.  Part of what he said was to agree that most people here (60% or so) desire peace.  The question is what sort of peace; along with other peace activists Bishop Younan favors, not the ”Israelization” of the land, but a two-state solution with a shared Jerusalem.  He also believes that peace will be fostered, not “from above” — that is, with grandiose, all-encompassing programs — but “from below” — that is, through grass roots programs that may seem small but that develop lasting, peace-building relationships.  He talked about some of the needs the ELCJHL has, especially to help children in need in their schools.  One of the concerns I’ve heard from several sources is the drain of Palestinian Christians from the land; he hopes for ways to keep Christians here because of a real concern that the Christian presence in the Holy Land may be lost.  And he asked for our prayers.

The ELCJHL is quite small, but I believe its influence far exceeds its size.  Bishop Younan and his churchbody are open to working with people of other Christian groups and other faith traditions.  He is known for his stands for peace and justice.  He has been mentioned favorably by the Rector and Vice-Rector of Tantur (both Roman Catholics), by the Muslim professor who spoke to us earlier on Friday, and by the Jewish professor who spoke with us on Thursday — the current president of the Jerusalem Conference for Jewish-Christian Relations, who quoted Bishop Younan: “As long as you believe in a living God, you must have hope”  Amen.

Water, Water Everywhere, But Not Enough to Drink

Living in Israel in the month of July makes one keenly aware of the need for water.  The temperature ranges from 85 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (or worse in the desert), and it’s crucial to “keep hydrated,” so we’ve been drinking lots of water.  On the other hand, this area is in the midst of a bad two-year drought.  (There would be no rain anyway in the summer, but they haven’t received much rain in their winter rainy season either.)   We’ve been consciously using less water, seeking creative ways to conserve.  One sign of the drought is the low level of the Sea of Galilee as well as the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.  Another reason for the lower water levels there is the amount of water diverted from the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River for irrigation and to supply Israel with water.

The importance of water in the Holy Land is nothing new.  As we’ve traveled to various archaeological sites, the guides always point out the sources of water for these places — from Roman aqueducts to springs to cisterns for collecting rain water.  Often there are tunnels to crawl through to show where and how the people got their water.  One of the most famous examples is the tunnel of King Hezekiah — for defensive purposes he dug a tunnel to channel water from the Kidron Valley to the neighboring valley which was inside the walls of the City of Jerusalem, thus safe for people to use for water even when besieged.   (Check it out in 2 Chronicles 32.)

One reason this is important now, some people suggest, is that the next war in this region may be fought over water.  There have apparently been some significant peace negotiations between Syria and Israel, but I would have some serious doubts about how hopeful to be about their success.  Why?  Because the Golan Heights that Israel occupied on the north and east sides of the Sea of Galilee control much water that I doubt that Israel would want to give up.

Of course, we have similar issues in the United States.  The Colorado River doesn’t have much water left when it finally reaches Mexico.  Consider also our Midwestern reluctance to allow other areas of the country to have access to the water of the Great Lakes.

Shepherds in Bethlehem, Past and Present

Last Saturday, July 19th, our Tantur group visited Bethlehem.  We began in Beit Sahour, a village adjacent to Bethlehem and the traditional location of the Shepherds’ Field where the angels announced Jesus’ birth.  “Beit Sahour” means “house of whispering,” apparently because shepherds were notorious gossips.  A beautiful Catholic church is built on a site where supposedly the shepherds’ field was located.  It’s situated over a cave where it is thought the shepherds hung out — there are lots of caves all over this area, making the idea that Jesus was born in a cave quite plausible.  It was a fun/touching moment to sing “Angels We Have Heard on High” on the very spot where these angels appeared.

We didn’t see it, but there is a Lutheran church in Beit Sahour.  They have recently cooperated with other Christians in opening a community center that will provide a place for Palestinians to produce and sell their handmade arts and crafts.

The Shrine in the Church of the Nativity at the Place Where Jesus was Born

We ended our morning tour by visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, but I won’t say more just now because I believe I discussed that when we first visited there early in our Tantur stay.

What I want to talk about here has more to do with “shepherds” in the present.  We also visited the Intercultural Center in Bethlehem, which is adjacent to and sponsored by Christmas Lutheran Church.  We met with Dr. Nuha Khoury, who along with Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, pastor of the church, has developed an amazing set of cultural ministries for the Palestinians in Bethlehem and beyond.  One program seeks to preserve and revitalize the cultural identity of the Palestinian community by teaching and encouraging cultural expression, including sponsoring festivals, exhibitions, and concerts.  They have founded “Dar al-Kalima College,” a two-year college designed to train people in a variety of creative and artistic fields.  They offer a health and wellness center, and their fourth enterprise is the community center in Beit Sahour I mentioned above.  They describe these ministries as “a consortium of Lutheran-based, ecumenically-oriented institutions serving the whole Palestinian community, with an emphasis on children, youth, women, and the elderly through unique programs that are contextual and holistic in nature.”   I can’t tell you how proud and touched I felt to hear about these programs coming out of our sister Lutheran church, where they are living out their faith by seeking to provide authentic hope in a community that deeply needs such encouragement.

By the way, beneath the craft shop of this center is a first century cave.  (No, they don’t claim Jesus was born there in the Lutheran church!)  But this cave was obviously a home — a door on one side, one main room, and a courtyard in front of the house.  Probably the family lived and slept in that one room, and their animals were brought into the courtyard at night.  For Joseph and Mary “no room in the inn” may have meant that friends or relatives had no space in the room where the family slept, so they had to put them up in the courtyard with the animals.

I can testify to the quality of their artistic program, for a number of us went to a musical concert in their auditorium on Monday night, July 21st.  The songs and explanations were in Arabic — so I can’t tell you much about them — but the music was beautiful.  The combo included an oud (a traditional Middle Eastern instrument like a lute or mandolin), flute, piano, cello, bass guitar, and drums.  The music struck me as a cross between Middle Eastern music and jazz.  The evening was an experience of what the Intercultural Center in Bethlehem is trying to accomplish — and an experience of how music can be an international language.

Visit to Augusta Victoria Hospital

Marilyn and I had a wonderful visit to the Lutheran World Federation’s (LWF) Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, July 14.  We met with the Rev. Mark Brown, the LWF’s Regional Representative in Jerusalem who oversees the various programs at Augusta Victoria Hospital (which I’ll abbreviate as AVH). 

The history of AVH goes back to 1910, when the building was built by the German government as a retreat center for German pilgrims to the Holy Land.  (Other European countries had been returning to the Holy Land since the mid-1800’s, so the Germans were somewhat late.)  The building was never used for pilgrims, however, for the Ottoman Turks took the building over for government purposes.  When the British gained control over the Holy Land from the Ottoman Empire after World War I, General Allenby stayed at the AVH facility, and it became the British administrative center for the Holy Land.  When the British Mandate ended in 1947/8, they gave the property — with German agreement — to the Lutheran World Federation.

This is when AVH became a hospital.  After the Israeli War of Independence there were many hospitals for Israelis, but none for Palestinians.  AVH focused its medical care on Palestinians, especially those who were refugees from the 1948 War.  Ever since then, AVH has been a significant source of health care for Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims.  At first it provided a full range of health care, but now Palestinians generally receive primary and secondary care at other hospitals.  AVH specializes in such areas as geriatrics, oncology, and kidney dialysis (including pediatric).  Because of the difficulty Palestinians have in traveling outside of their villages and through Israeli territory, AVH sends cars every day to Palestinian villages on the West Bank and in Gaza to pick up both staff and patients. 

AVH offers a wide range of services to the Palestinian community.  In addition to the health services provided by the hospital, Augusta Victoria also offers vocational training and provides material aid — the school and health kits and quilts forwarded to AVH by Lutheran World Relief for distribution to families in need.  AVH harvests the olives on its property and sends bottles of olive oil to congregations who donate to its “Fund for the Poor.”  It’s hoping to develop a soccer field on its property so that Palestinian youth can have a decent soccer field — many of which can be found in Israeli neighborhoods but not in Arab communities.

AVH’s current emphasis is being placed on its Mount of Olives Housing Project.  The Christian presence in the Holy Land is dwindling, due in part to lack of affordable housing.  AVH has developed a plan to build 84 apartments on its property, which will be subsidized and leased at affordable rates to Palestinian Christian couples and families. 

Incidentally, who is “Augusta Victoria”?  She was the wife of Kaiser Wilhelm, the German king when the building was first built.

Marilyn and I were deeply impressed with the mission and ministry of Augusta Victoria Hospital.  It has been and remains a significant source of help for Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim.  I believe it is a worthy recipient of our Monthly Mission offerings, and I will bring back information that will show you what we saw.  Meanwhile, if you want to learn more about AVH or see pictures of what it does, visit its web site at www.lwfjerusalem.org.

A Dinner in Galilee

Some of you know that Pastor Gabi Aelabouni is the pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Brookfield.  His cousin, Pastor Said Aelabouni, is now the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in LaGrange; for some time Marilyn knew him when he was the director for the ELCA’s work in Europe and the Middle East in our Global Mission unit.  As their family name indicates, they come from Eilabun, a village in Galilee north of Nazareth. 

At Pastor Gabi’s suggestion, we contacted his parents, Samir and Janette Aelabouni, and they invited us to visit them last Tuesday, July 8th, when we were in Galilee.  Since we didn’t have a car, Gabi’s brother, Victor, picked us up and drove us to their home.   Victor speaks English quite well, and he served as translator for us, although Gabi’s father can communicate in English as well.  What a wonderful visit we had!  Of course, we were treated to a feast of typical Palestinian dishes, topped off with local fruit and pistachio ice cream.  Mainly it was so special to enjoy the gracious hospitality of a family who lives in Galilee.  Tourist sites are important, but meeting the people of the country is more significant.  Communication was a little difficult, but pictures are worth a 1,000 words.  Victor and his wife, Jonar, have a four-month old baby boy, Samir.  They shared the pictures from his birth and baptism, including one showing him with Winnie the Pooh.  As some of you know who visit my office, our daughter Sarah takes pictures of our grandson with a big Winnie the Pooh each month so that we can see how he’s growing.  Communication crossed cultural and language barriers as we shared our pictures and this similar custom.  A couple times during the evening the family made it clear that ordinary people in Israel want peace.  Their village is mostly Christian with a number of Muslims; Victor works with Israelis — peaceful working together is possible.  We rejoice in a wonderful evening of hospitality; we pray that their land may know genuine peace.

Worship in a Crusader Church

On Sunday, July 6th, our group traveled to a village west of Jerusalem, Abu Ghosh, to worship in a Crusader Church — that is, a church built during Crusader times (12th century).  Why go there?  For one thing, the acoustics of the church were wonderful.  The chanting of the French Benedictine monks and nuns from that church, accompanied sometimes on a special kind of harp, sounded beautiful in that sanctuary.  But for another, Abu Ghosh is the leading candidate among 4 (or perhaps 9) sites to be the place of the biblical Emmaus.  Yes, the music and worship was beautiful.  They also baptized two young children.  In mid-service we processed into the crypt below the church for the baptism around an altar set atop an ancient spring that may also have served as a “mikveh,” a place for ritual baths.  They didn’t use those baths for a baptism by immersion, but there was still something quite moving about us processing around that ancient place for the baptism.  The service was an “ordinary” Catholic mass (in Latin and French, so i didn’t understand much), but it still was moving for me to commune in the place (or, the leading candidate to be the place) where Jesus was recognized by the two disciples on Easter Day “in the breaking of the bread.”

A Week in Galilee

On Monday, July 7th, we left Tantur for a week’s tour of Galilee.  How shall I summarize the overwhelming number of places we saw?   Let me list them quickly and then make some more detailed comments.  We saw Caesarea Maritima (founded by Herod the Great, Paul imprisoned there, inscription with name of Pontius Pilate found there), Mt. Carmel (Elijah and the prophets of Baal in i Kings 18), and Megiddo (=Armageddon); we visited Cana and Nazareth; we stopped at places associated with the

The Church of the Beatitudes near the Sea of Galilee

Sermon on the Mount and the Feeding of the 5,000 (Tabgha); we stopped in Capernaum and Kursi (the place where Jesus healed the man possessed by the demons named “Legion” and sent them into the herd of pigs) and took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, concluding with viewing a recently discovered boat dated to the first century; we traveled to Caesarea Philippi (where Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”) and the Golan Heights; we saw the headwaters of the Jordan and ate in a Druse village; we returned to Tantur by way of Mt. Tabor (by tradition associated with Jesus’ Transfiguration), Beit She’an (an important archaelogical site), and Jericho, stopping to eat in a Circassian village. 

Who are the Druse?  They are a somewhat secretive group that is an offshoot of Islam who live in a few villages in Israel, including the Golan Heights.  Who are the Circassians?  They are a group who migrated a century ago from an area in Russia between the Caspian and Black Seas who now are Muslim or Christian.  They are examples of the religious and cultural diversity one can find in israel.

Was it special to be in Galilee where Jesus lived, grew up, and began his public ministry?  Yes.  Was it a deep spiritual experience to see all these places?  Not really.  Recall my comments in an earlier posting about the difference between being a tourist and a pilgrim.  Sometimes the hectic pace of moving from place to place, along with busloads of other tourists, in the hot Galilee sun (supposedly over 100 degrees Fahrenheit – isn’t that what 40 degrees Celsius adds up to?) doesn’t lend itself to spiritual experience.

Yet there are moments when the specialness of these places is touching — standing in the Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, looking at First Century ruins that may have been the house where Mary lived when the angel came to her — gathering in the courtyard of a church in Cana with a couple come to be married and others to renew their marriage vows in this place where Jesus changed the water into wine for a wedding feast — standing on places by the shores of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus may well have preached the Sermon on the Mount or fed the 5,000 — taking a van to the top of Mt. Tabor where Jesus may have been transfigured.

What I have been appreciating the most are those places that help me to understand the actual cultural and historical context of Jesus.  In Nazareth they have created “Nazareth Village,” a living history exhibit where they have restored a First Century village and farmlands  based on the latest archaeological findings.  My understanding of the Bible — and soon my preaching as well — will be deeply impacted by that visit as well as the time we spent at several other archaeological sites.   (They’ve discovered a Roman bath in Nazareth.  Did Jesus and his family use it?  I have tended to think that Jews didn’t use such pagan things, but there is evidence that they did on some occasions.  Caesarea Philippi was a place of healing springs at the headwaters of the Jordan River which includes the ruins of several Roman temples, including one to the Greek god Pan; does that add to the significance of this being the place where Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”)

I have also been realizing what I  knew only dimly before: the Holy Land has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries.  Perhaps it began even earlier, but we know that the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were built under the sponsorship of St. Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine.  As we visit various sites, we see remains of shrines or churches from that time, from later Byzantine times (5th to 7th centuries), from Crusader times (11th to 13th centuries), and finally in recent times — that is, since the late 1800’s.  If we search for where Jesus actually walked, we may not find it; if we look for where Christians thought he walked over the centuries since at least 325 A.D., we find those places everywhere.

Our guide was a young Arab Christian woman (Melkite, or Greek Catholic).  The most moving times in Galilee were when in several churches she sang for us beautiful Byzantine chants — or when we gathered by the pool of our hotel on the shores of the Sea of Galilee for a Eucharist led in the evening by one of the priests in our group and we heard the wind and the waves of Galilee as we read about Jesus walking on the water and inviting Peter to come to him.

Some First Week Thoughts from Tantur

First, let me assure you that we are perfectly safe here at Tantur.  Perhaps you heard about the bulldozer attack in Jerusalem.  We were nowhere near where that occurred.  Of course, there are safety issues here, but Tantur’s director assures us that he feels safer here than in Washington, D.C. — or Chicago, for that matter.

Tantur says that being in the Holy Land is like the “fifth Gospel.”  That idea goes back to St. Jerome in the 4th century — who translated the Bible into Latin (known as the “Vulgate”) in his monastery just down the hill from Tantur.  We had a couple lectures this week on biblical geography and Jesus’ cultural milieu.  Being here in the Holy Land and learning/seeing what life is like here both now and in Jesus’ day helps make the Bible so much more meaningful.  More on this should turn up in my sermons.

The last two days have been an interesting study in contrasts.  I met a Jewish man in Cambridge whose wife is a rabbi here in Jerusalem.  He invited me to come to their Sabbath/Shabbat service and the potluck dinner afterwards.  His wife leads a group called “The Jerusalem Community for Jewish Renewal”; their worship was like a combination of traditional Jewish worship with charismatic/evangelistic praise music.  In addition to their spirited worship they also seek to work on peace and other social issues.  The meal afterwards was less a potluck than a continued celebration of the Sabbath, complete with food and drink and prayer and singing — and even a sermon of sorts — in honor of several Americans present, a comparison was made between the Exodus and the American Revolution (an interesting way for me to celebrate the 4th of July, but the comparison made me a little uneasy.)  Then today we walked to Bethlehem, going through an Israeli checkpoint into that Arab city which is part of the West Bank.  We went to the Church of the Nativity and saw the shrine at the traditional site of Jesus’ birth — a definitely moving part of the day for me.  That experience, though, was surrounded by haggling with taxi drivers over the price of our ride to Manger Square and avoiding all the people who want to sell you something you don’t want.  Another highlight included walking to the International Lutheran Center and Christmas Lutheran Church — we intend to worship there later and perhaps attend some events in the attached cultural center.  Lutherans have a small but sigificant presence in Bethlehem.  So two days and two quite different experiences — observing both Jewish and Palestinian experiences.  More on this as the month goes on.

Are we here as tourists or as pilgrims?  Sometimes as people seek to be religious pilgrims here, they get caught up in being tourists — trying to make sure to see every important site, dealing with the hassles with people trying to sell you everything from postcards to camel rides.  Sometimes people who are here as tourists get touched or overwhelmed by the spiritual significance of what they are seeing on their tour.  I’m sure that we will be fluctuating back and forth on that spectrum during our stay here.

P.S. I’m having trouble including pictures.  I hope to figure out how to do it better.