This will need to be a brief reflection as we are leaving soon for a 2 day trip into Galilee.

Yesterday morning began with worship at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Old City of Jerusalem. There are 3 congregations that share this historic building depending on the primary language and they each attend their own worship service. I attended the English speaking service and then after the service we had an opportunity to meet with the Palestinian Pastor of the Arabic language congregation to hear of the particular challenges faced by that congregation.

The Pastor expressed his significant concern which I had heard from others of the dwindling number of Christians living in Jerusalem. The numbers are now down to about 6000 which is about 20% of what is was 30 years ago. He explained that there are a number of reasons for this all with the primary cause of the Israel annexing Jerusalem after winning the war of 1968. As a result the Palestinians of Jerusalem have an odd “middle status”. In that they do not have full citizenship rights as the Palestinians do who originally live within borders of Israel drawn in 1948 but they also don’t have the total non-citizen status of the Palestinians who live in the West Bank. They are somewhere in between. But still they are subject to oppression and minimal economic opportunities. So many have left for other lands to find jobs and to achieve better opportunities for their families. If they are gone 7 years then they lose their Jerusalem status rights. With the dwindling number of Christians in Jerusalem, it is hard for the young people to find a spouse. If they find one in the West Bank then the spouse would not be permitted to live in Jerusalem. If they move to the West Bank then they lose their status also. It is a classic “Catch 22” situation.

In the afternoon, we had a tour of the Old City lead by a very knowledgeable man whose brother many of us know as he is a Pastor of the Lutheran Arabic church next to the Islamic Center in Dearborn. He took us to the site of the pools of Bethsaida which is where Jesus healed the crippled who had been waiting so many years to be put into the pool. The excavations at this site reveal that you need to dig down about 30 feet to get to the level of the ground of 2000 years ago. This is due to the many times that Jerusalem was destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries.  It is next to St. Ann’s church which is held by the Orthodox to be the birthplace site of Mary the mother of Jesus.  

We then went on a much deeper tour along the Via Dolorosa which marks the path that Jesus carried the cross. We wound up at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which is built over the site of Calvary where Jesus died on the cross and also over the tomb where tradition says that he was laid. There was a large stone in the church floor on which tradition holds Jesus was laid to be wrapped before being laid in the tomb. As I touched this stone, I offered prayers for all of you. This Church is the most central Christian Holy Site and as such it has been frequently the source of disagreements between the various Christian Denominations that shared this place. In it’s history at one point, one denomination locked out another and so the Sultan that presided over this land at that time took the keys and entrusted them to the care of a Muslim family to insure that all Christians had access. That is how it remains to this day, a Muslim comes to unlock the doors early in the morning and returns to lock them at night. In between there are numerous masses being said in the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Coptic etc. etc. traditions.  

Last night, we went back to the Church of the Redeemer for a special presentation of a group known as the “Parents Circle”. This group is formed by People both Palestinian & Israeli who have lost a family member during this 60 year conflict. So last evening for the first time on this trip, I got to see an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian sit together in friendship and relay to us the stories of their lost loved ones. The Israeli Jew had a 14 year old daughter that was precious to him killed by a suicide bomber some 12 years ago. The Palestinian had a 60 year old father who was killed for no apparent reason by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint. Both men shared of their grief and their anguish wrestling with the senselessness of these killings. They both came to the conclusion that there was a choice to be made. They could choose the path of revenge and go and seek out ways to strike back with their own violence or they could choose the path of peace and seek out ways to end this apparently endless conflict. They chose the path of peace and reconciliation. In this Jew and in the Muslim sharing their life struggles and reaching the decision to reach out in love, I saw the light of Jesus vibrantly alive in this troubled world of ours.

Joining us for the presentation was a group from Christian Peace Teams. This is a fascinating group but I will need to reflect on this latter for I must get to the bus now.

Peace and blessings to us all.  Pastor Terry