Bethlehem

Today we went to Bethlehem, and it was a rich experience.  We saw the WALL for the first time, and it was sobering.  It's huge, and while we were able to pass through easily (the soldier talked to our driver and waved us on through), the Palestinians who live in Bethlehem have great difficulty going back and forth. We met with Mitri Rahab, who is a Lutheran pastor there, and does some really great ministry, a school, a college, a wellness center.  He was wonderful, and we were all fed by his wisdom.  We also went to the Church of the Nativity, where we went down into the place where Jesus was supposedly born.  I reached into the middle of the star and touched the rock, and lit some candles for you guys.  
 
Then tonight we walked around a bit, not in the Old City, but in the more modern part.  Jews were streaming out of the Old City after celebrating Pentecost (Shavrot, I think they call it), and were very festive and happy.  We also walked for a couple of hours last night, did I already tell you this?  It was fun to walk through regular neighborhoods.  I feel boring tonight, so will quit writing.  I'm NOT bored, mind you, just being boring.
 
I guess, though, that the one other thing I want to write about is that I practiced Sabbath yesterday, and it was pretty special.  Sue had asked me the night before if I was getting any rest.  And after walking around the Jewish Quarter of the Old City the day before, on their Sabbath, I thought that I would take my own.  So I didn't take my camera with me, or my map, or even my watch.  I decided to travel light, as Jesus instructed his disciples to do, and depend on the kindnesses of others.  We went out in the morning to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and then ate lunch, and then I went back to the hotel and slept and read all afternoon, which was very nice and very needed.  Then that night, as I said earlier, I walked around the city with Bruce, Andy, and Trish.  It was a lovely Sabbath, and has set me thinking about what Sabbath really ought to be.
 
Okay, now I'm warming up.  I also want to write about the visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  We went out at about 7:00, with Hannah for our guide.  She is Jewish, and knows so much about those churches that it makes your head spin!  She took us to five different worship services, four of them in the Church of the HS.  Syrian, Copt, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian, and Arab Greek Orthodox (the last one was not technically in the C of the HS, I don't think).  Oh, it was so interesting.  Basically, these churches have been sharing the church for hundreds and hundreds of years.  And 200 years ago, roughly, they (The Turks?  The British?  I'm getting so much information that I can't take it all in, anyway, the PIC, People in Charge) passed what they call the Status Quo, which the PIC are really well versed in.  So What that meant was that whatever space that particular church had been able to carve out for themselves became theirs.  So the Copts (from Egypt) have this little space that is surrounded by what looks like Jesus shower curtains.  And the priests and monks and people gather there in front of it, and since it was their worship time, they were able to move beyond it a little bit, to worship.  Lots of incense, and interesting hats and robes.  Then the Ethiopians have two chapels.  One of the them has a big clock on the wall that is a watch, and the other has a clock that chimes really loudly about every thirty minutes, and it reminded me of that funeral home that we go to sometimes.  Also a big pink throne.  So the priests and the monks and a few other people gather there, and there's lots of singing, but not like you'd expect, rather singsong and hummy and droney.  The monks and priests carry big walking sticks, and they stand and lean on the them, oh, and they and we, take off our shoes when we enter.  It was all very interesting and moving in some ways.
 
THEN there was the Syrian service, which was my favorite.  Partly because it was probably this group that is really the most ancient in terms of Christianity, but more so because the main priest's robe was brilliant pink.  Not really, that's not the reason.  It's because we'd been there the day before, and it's this ancient cave-like room with this old falling-apart wooden altar, and then on Sunday morning, it had been turned into this wonderful space with icons and flowers and incense and wall hangings, and carpet, and it was just lovely!  And it was a parish church, meaning that it wasn't just the priests and the monks and the tourists, but that there were families there, too, and there was participation from the congregation (very small group, sitting on little plastic seats).  Anyway, it reminded me of our little machine shop church, and how it's full of homeless men and women during the week and then becomes a different space on Sundays. It's holy in both instances, but different.  Anyway, I could have stayed there for a very long time.
 
Hannah was delightful, and one thing that she pointed out was that even though all of these churches have had a hard history of working out their space issues (who gets to clean what, etc., which they haven't done very well, evidentally, because our guide won't let us use the bathrooms there because they are so dirty--if women were in charge, that particular issue would have been settled), that it more or less WORKS.  For 200 or so years, they've (once again, more or less) all gotten along.  She was quite emphatic about this, and helped us to see it as the miracle it is.  Though she also told us about the fight that broke out between the Copts and the Ethiopians a few years ago that resulted in near blindness for the Coptic (I think) Bishop.  Sheesh.
 
Oh, I forgot to tell you:  when the Greek Orthodox priests walk into the church, these bells ring and ring and ring, and they hit their big walking sticks on the ground and the crowd parts.  I could use a LITTLE MORE RESPECT in the future!
 
Gotta go!  Love you all!