July 21, 2002

So much to share from our experiences in Palestine. Elizabeth at a Nablus soap factory.

The day of three presentations. This morning, we went down to First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, where Marthame was a third-generation member growing up. There were over one hundred people at Sunday School (times like this we remember that we are in the South), a wonderful crowd. There were many people there who knew Marthame when he was just a child, as well as many new faces. The variety of opinions and understanding among those in attendance was wide. As one person asked, "What would you do if you were prime minister of Israel?" We answered it, but should've followed it with what would we do if we were President of the Palestinian National Authority. Another question: "What would you tell George Bush if you had an audience with him?"

"Listen to your brothers and sisters in Christ in Palestine."

Following worship and fellowship, we drove downtown to Central Presbyterian Church, a congregation we had not had the chance to visit before, but who had become gradually more interested in our work over the past year. Today also happened to be the day of their congregational meeting to accept the resignation of their pastor, Ted Wardlaw. It seemed fitting on such a day that they should have speakers to bring good news from the good news capital of the world, the Middle East. Even with a marathon day behind them already, many people stayed for our talk and asked good questions. There is clearly a lot of knowledge in this congregation, and a desire to "get their hands dirty". As we are trying to do at each of our church stops along the way, we presented them with a Palestinian-embroidered communion cloth, a sign of our unity at the feast.

We had a rest of a few hours, then went off to North Decatur Presbyterian Church to meet with a small group of folks from other churches in the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. Some of them we had gotten to know when they visited Jerusalem last year, and it is clear that the denomination's new Moderator's leadership, Fahed Abu-Akel, in the Presbytery has brought wider understanding to a lot of people in this area.