January 12, 2003

The morning view of Jerusalem’s Old City from the Mount of Olives.

Marthame admired the view at breakfast one last time, heading to preach at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, in the Old City of Jerusalem, not far from Damascus Gate.

The foreign language congregations of this land are an interesting mix: part long-termers, part short-termers, and part visitors. Before the service, the electricity was cut - Fr. Aktham later took great pleasure in this (since it had happened when Marthame preached in the Latin Church last month). It came back, but not in time for the church bells to ring.

This Sunday is the Baptism of Christ, so - not surprisingly - Marthame preached about this practice. The question is not so much how Christians are baptized (and he used the Orthodox practice as one example), as what we are baptized to: repentance, righteousness, and gentleness. It's good to get "back in the pulpit."

At the church, Marthame was joined by one of our friends from college who is visiting the area. The two of them got a ride with someone working for the World Council of Churches' Accompaniment Program, who came to Zababdeh to see what possibilities for them exist in the northern West Bank. The road was easy (in an Israeli-plated car with three foreigners) until we arrived at the Tayasir checkpoint. There, we approached the barrier slowly but confidently, stopping short.

The soldier manning the checkpoint became agitated at our forthrightness, grabbing his M-16 nervously. As he approached the car, he saw Marthame, stopped, and bowed. Marthame rolled down the window: "How's the surfing?" It was, to our good fortune, the same soldier who had been there on Friday. A quick check of our passports was all and we were on our way.

We arrived in Zababdeh in time to have lunch with Fr. Aktham, Deacon Homam, and Mr. Iyad, the Vice Principal. We discussed possibilities, such as accompanying our school buses, going with Fr. Alphonse from Jenin when he needs to visit his parishioners in the villages scattered around, working with local NGOs who have re-located to Zababdeh. We hope that something will pan out - they have enough to keep them busy, but the presence of a few more internationals in this area would go a long way to simply offering people hope and encouragement.

We spent the rest of our evening visiting with our college friend, one of very few visitors we've had who have come primarily to see us. It seems we need hope and encouragement, too.