Holy Places

Things have been busy over on my side of the world: I preached in two different church services, was sick for several days, and then spent last week with a group of Methodists from Ireland as they toured around Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

This is the first tour group I've gotten to work with through the Methodist Liaison office, and it has been a really great experience. This group is specifically here on a "study tour," meaning that not only are they here to visit churches and holy sites with biblical significance, but they also want to spend time learning about the political situation and conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. Kristen and I accompanied them for several days. Here are just a few of the experiences we had:

-We walked in the Garden of Gethsemane and along the Via Dolorosa (way of the cross), visiting various holy sites and churches marking Christ's walk to the cross, his crucifixion, and resurrection.

-We heard from voices on all sides of the conflict: Palestinian peace workers, international human rights advocates, an Israeli peace activist, an Israeli living within a Settlement.

-We visited Aida refugee camp and spoke to a middle-aged man who had been born and raised within the camp, and who still hopes to one day return to his parent's home which had been taken.

-We walked through Hebron, one of the most conflict-laden areas in the West Bank, where Jews moved into Palestinian areas and now streets are marked off to be used for Israelis only.

-We saw the Western Wall, the holiest place for Jews; and also the Dome of the Rock, the 2nd holiest place for Muslims. Both located within a mile of one another.

It was a fascinating week. Full of both moments of hope, as well as despair - as is every week here, it seems like. Though it was really great getting to know the 24 people on the trip. Many of them have children my age, so they were quick to take me under their wing and make me feel at home. It was strange having them ask me questions about things - and actually sometimes being able to provide answers! I have been here officially 2 months now, but I still feel like I have only just scratched the surface in terms of understanding the situation here.

One thing that really struck me going through this week of both touring and learning, is how the places that I have expected to feel the most holy, have actually felt the least. Walking through the Church of the Nativity, where Christ is thought to have been born, and yet, I feel nothing. Seeing an imprint of a foot on a stone in the Chapel of Ascension - a footprint thought to have been made by Jesus as he ascended into heaven after his resurrection, leaves me more confused than sanctified. I walk through ruins and monolithic chapels with a persistent question in the back of my mind,

"God, where are you?"

It's baffling how difficult it has been to feel connected to God in this place that is historically so full of God's presence.

I am finding instead that the "real" religious places are not the monuments and the shrines - not the churches which have no living congregations attached to them anymore, but rather serve as museums and historic markers - but rather the areas where people are suffering. In Hebron, where Palestinian residents have placed fencing above the alleyways in order to prevent injuries from stones and objects thrown down on them from Settlers who live above. In Aida refugee camp, where families still hold on to old, rusted keys which they brought with them when they were forced from their homes, told that they would be given the right to return.

I have experienced God when talking with people who are the "living stones" - those who have grown up with oppression and discrimination. Hearing from Palestinian Christians who have been living in the land for hundreds of years. Those who are now living under persecution and yet remain unrecognized by their Christian brothers and sisters in the West. I have experienced God while listening to peace and justice advocates, both local and international, who are committed to establishing a world where all humans are given the same basic rights, no matter their ethnicity or religion.

These are the places and moments where my heart beats fast with righteous anger, where my eyesight becomes blurry with unshed tears. In these times, too, I find myself asking the same question,

"God, where are you?"

But instead of springing from a place of bewilderment, wondering how to feel God's presence in a stone footprint, it comes out of a deep sense of longing. It becomes a plea, an appeal, a prayer for God to help me make some sense of it all. To open my eyes and the eyes of those around me so that we can learn to love our neighbor instead of hurting him.

I think anyone who visits the Holy Land to visit Christian holy sites would be remiss if they did not also take the time to speak to the people of the land. Because it is through these people that God can be seen to still be at work today.

Fences above alley in Hebron to protect shop keepers from debris thrown from above.

You can see some of the trash that has been thrown down. A settler lives up above; notice the Israeli flag being flown.