Easter Sunday in Jerusalem
Don Hamer is on professional development leave until May 15. He is writing occasional posts to this blog to share some of his experiences. From April 4 to April 20, he is writing daily updates while he and his wife Debbie make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Debbie and I send you warmest Easter wishes from Jerusalem. It is quite impossible to put into words what it is like to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord less than a mile from where it actually occurred. I was there and knelt at the altar only yesterday. Perhaps symbolic of the way we, God's creatures, continue to break the Body of Christ was the fact that this very morning, friends who were at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher reported competing groups of Christians were arguing over who should be admitted into Mass and when. 2000 years later, we have yet to fully appreciate and make a part of us the meaning of the Resurrection and the Gospel message.
After a beautiful service at the Cathedral of St. George, Debbie and I were invited to lunch with Bishop Suheil and his family and staff, where the main course was an entire lamb. Debbie and I sat with the Dean of St. George's College and his wife, who is from California. We closed the luncheon by singing an Arabic hymn which we sang at the service this morning, and "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" which we also sang at the service this morning. The Dean then sang an Alleluia from the Byzantine church, and we closed with the Lord's prayer. It was a beautiful time of Christian fellowship.
Late this afternoon we traveled to Ramallah, in the Palestinian West Bank territory, with David Bourns and his successor at the Save the Children Federation's Palestinian Territory office. As Americans, we only hear about Ramallah when there has been violence there. Debbie and I were surprised to learn that it is one of the most secular of the West Bank cities, and has a thriving downtown with lots of new construction, shops, night clubs, cafes, and performing arts. Having said that, it continues to struggle with issues of poverty, unemployment, lack of economic opportunity, and to some extent, political isolation. It reinforced the truth that issues of ethnic and religious intolerance and the consequences of them have very real human and social costs, and continue to stand in the way of what we believe to be God's desire that all may be reconciled unto our Creator.
Having spent the afternoon in Ramallah, we spent the evening with our friends William and Tony, both of whom are from the UK and whom we have met at the Guesthouse. Together we went for supper to an Armenian pub in the Armenian/Christian Quarter of the Old City, and from there proceeded to the Western Wall, which was very busy due in part, we were told, to its being the middle of Passover. We prayed again at the Wall, and I placed a written prayer in a crack in the wall on behalf of a friend from Hartford. Praying at that Wall, so rich in history and meaning, was again a very moving experience.
I pray that you enjoyed a blessed Easter celebration, and that you approach the days to come with a renewed sense of faith and an invigorated commitment to be a living example, each and every day, of the Good News. Your brother in Christ, Don+
Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Debbie and I send you warmest Easter wishes from Jerusalem. It is quite impossible to put into words what it is like to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord less than a mile from where it actually occurred. I was there and knelt at the altar only yesterday. Perhaps symbolic of the way we, God's creatures, continue to break the Body of Christ was the fact that this very morning, friends who were at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher reported competing groups of Christians were arguing over who should be admitted into Mass and when. 2000 years later, we have yet to fully appreciate and make a part of us the meaning of the Resurrection and the Gospel message.
After a beautiful service at the Cathedral of St. George, Debbie and I were invited to lunch with Bishop Suheil and his family and staff, where the main course was an entire lamb. Debbie and I sat with the Dean of St. George's College and his wife, who is from California. We closed the luncheon by singing an Arabic hymn which we sang at the service this morning, and "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" which we also sang at the service this morning. The Dean then sang an Alleluia from the Byzantine church, and we closed with the Lord's prayer. It was a beautiful time of Christian fellowship.
Late this afternoon we traveled to Ramallah, in the Palestinian West Bank territory, with David Bourns and his successor at the Save the Children Federation's Palestinian Territory office. As Americans, we only hear about Ramallah when there has been violence there. Debbie and I were surprised to learn that it is one of the most secular of the West Bank cities, and has a thriving downtown with lots of new construction, shops, night clubs, cafes, and performing arts. Having said that, it continues to struggle with issues of poverty, unemployment, lack of economic opportunity, and to some extent, political isolation. It reinforced the truth that issues of ethnic and religious intolerance and the consequences of them have very real human and social costs, and continue to stand in the way of what we believe to be God's desire that all may be reconciled unto our Creator.
Having spent the afternoon in Ramallah, we spent the evening with our friends William and Tony, both of whom are from the UK and whom we have met at the Guesthouse. Together we went for supper to an Armenian pub in the Armenian/Christian Quarter of the Old City, and from there proceeded to the Western Wall, which was very busy due in part, we were told, to its being the middle of Passover. We prayed again at the Wall, and I placed a written prayer in a crack in the wall on behalf of a friend from Hartford. Praying at that Wall, so rich in history and meaning, was again a very moving experience.
I pray that you enjoyed a blessed Easter celebration, and that you approach the days to come with a renewed sense of faith and an invigorated commitment to be a living example, each and every day, of the Good News. Your brother in Christ, Don+
posted by Don+ @ 6:41 PM
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