October 12, 2001

One disappointing piece of news we have received of late is that Fr. Hossam, the Anglican priest of Zababdeh and Nablus, will probably be relocated to Nazareth. Every few years priests are moved around, which is - in theory and in practice - a good idea. But we have really enjoyed working with Fr. Hossam, so this transition period will be difficult for us on both a professional and personal level.

The priest who will be coming to Zababdeh, Fr. Zahi, is currently working as a chaplain in Nazareth at the Anglican Hospital, so Marthame took advantage of this weekend's timing to meet him this morning. He also should be a joy to work with, but he won't be coming for a while - since he lives in Nazareth with his family, traveling to Zababdeh means crossing into the West Bank according to the permission of the Israeli soldiers. He has two strikes going against him there: he is an Israeli citizen (only settlers and soldiers are allowed inside the West Bank), and he is a Palestinian (soldiers are not famous for their kindness to Palestinians, regardless of citizenship). Marthame told him that he was happy to help in whatever way possible, and Fr. Zahi was clearly grateful.

Marthame then caught a couple of shared taxis to meet Elizabeth in Jerusalem - travelling by bus is not recommended these days, and the shared taxis are more comfortable anyway. They also provide an opportunity to meet interesting people - in this case, an African-American from Joliet (IL) who converted to Judaism and is now spending a couple of years living in Tel Aviv. Marthame told him that we live in Jenin - the man responded that he had almost rented a very nice house in Jenin with a swimming pool for a great price, but that there were two checkpoints to pass in and out of to get there. It was only then that Marthame realized he meant "Ganim," one of two nearby settlements, the very existence of which has meant the siege of the entire Jenin region. He estimated that, out of 100 houses there, probably 30 have people in them. The rest are owned, but vacant.

We have a three day weekend (Fri to Sun) due to the olive harvest and the Muslim holiday on Sunday (commemorating Mohammed's night-time trip from Mecca to Jerusalem, the reason for the Dome of the Rock), so we took the opportunity to see as much as we could outside Zababdeh.

Some of the English language worshipers in Bethlehem.

We had gotten an email this morning that there would be English-language worship in Bethlehem tonight at the Christmas Lutheran Church near Manger Square. Redeemer Lutheran Church in Jerusalem has regular English-language worship. Until the last year, those who live in the Bethlehem used to come as well. Because of the difficulty of travel for many people, Redeemer Lutheran has been bringing that worship to Bethlehem. We tagged along with the few but faithful, including a German NGO worker, a Methodist pastor, a Lutheran pastor, an American married to a Palestinian, and an NGO worker who was in Afghanistan last year. He knows the people who are being detained there for proselytizing, and hasn't heard word from them since the bombing of Kabul began. We lifted them up in prayer. We got a chance to sing a lot of hymns and to do some Bible study. The passage for Sunday's lectionary is the healing of ten lepers, which is traditionally believed to have taken place in the nearby village of Burqin - we visited there in December with Elizabeth's family.

The view along the Old City walls of Jerusalem.

We had dinner with friends in Jerusalem before returning to the youth hostel near Damascus Gate - a surreal scene if there ever was one, with Billy Joel music, Dutch backpackers, a friendly licking kitten, and an air of paralysis.