Pilgrimage Day Three

Pilgrimage Day Three
Jesus – Mary – Joseph and the Episcopal Church in Palestine

Getting Started
Today is Sunday and if you think we took the day off you have something else coming to you. It is nor 9:00pm and I am sitting in my room in Bethlehem. We left Tabga this morning at 8:30am and travelled for about an hour south to Nazareth where we attended mass at Christ Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. The mass was bi-lingual in Arabic and English. (mostly Arabic) One might think that this would be hard for a non-Arabic speaker, however, the mass is the mass and Arabic has a certain rhythmic quality to it making the words of the rite quite rhythmic and prayerful.
After mass we attended the coffee hour and met many of the parishioners. Many of them had relatives in the states. This is a small church and I even had met one of the relatives who was a priest in the Diocese of LA at one time, Fr. Atiq.

The Church of the Annunciation
From Christ Church we drove a short distance to the Church of the Ascension a basilica dedicated to Mary for saying yes to God and becoming the mother of Jesus – the Messiah. It is a very new church erected in about the 2000. All around the church are images of Mary given to the church by several countries. The one from the United States pictures Mary the Immaculate Conception in a flowing dress ascending into heaven – all pieces of art were quite impressive.
The church sits over the historical ancient City of Nazareth and what is believed to be the home of Mary where the Annunciation took place.











Legend: The word Nazareth has two meanings. One is a gift from God. And the other is an upside down flower rooted in heaven. Both are related to the Incarnation, which is both a gift from God and a blessing on earth that is rooted in heaven.
Factoid: Israeli citizens are required to serve in the military for men 36 months immediately after high school and for women 24 months. For Palestinians living here, the service is optional. The difference is that the pay for Palestinians is about $250 per month and for Israelis, $900/mo.

Factoid: Jihad is a word that means spiritual warfare against the temptations to stray from teachings of Islam – a struggle against the evils of the world and keeping one’s faith. A Muslim explained this to our guide, Gashan, when he asked how a Muslim kept the faith in the light of the Crusades and the persecution by the Israelis. However, after the Iraqi war (or probable sometime before it) Jihad became a physical war. Although there is justification for reacting to the persecution, changing the meaning of Jihad is a way that the Islamic faith is manipulated for political reasons.

Church of the Holy Family
Just behind the Church of the Annunciation sits the Church of the Holy Family. It is a shrine honoring Saint Joseph. Being right next to each other they both sit over ruins of the ancient city. The Church of the Holy Family also sits over the ruins of a Byzantine church.
While we were at the Church of the Holy Family, the priest from the Church of Ireland, Sharon, led us in a celebration of the Feast Day of one of the three Patron Saints of Ireland, Brigid. The other patrons are Saint Patrick, a contemporary of Brigid, and Saint Columbia. Her presentation was personal and inspiring. She presented each one of us with a Saint Brigid’s Cross.

Church of the Miracle at Cana
After lunch at the St. George’s Restaurant in Nazareth, we went back to Cana to visit the Church of the Marriage Feast at Cana. Why did we go back? On tours, it is all a matter of timing. In this area, all masses are at 10am on Sunday. This goes for the Romans, Orthodox and Protes≈tants. So, we had to be at Christ Church at 10am and to make it we had to pass up Cana.
The church at Cana is built over an ancient site that is believed to be where the miracle of Cana took place. There is a large jar under the church that was used for purification that may have been the type Jesus used for his miracle.
While we were in the church, John Conrad blessed the marriage of 39 years of Barbara and Jeff Wilhelm. Their Anniversary was on January 31. He presented them with some Cana Wine. It was a moving ceremony and it was quite unexpected. When we were leaving the church, there was a group of Roman Catholics on tour that were renewing their marriage vows.

On to Jericho
Using the road on the West Bank of the Jordan River we drove south on our way to Jericho. We passed through the Jezereel Valley where we saw lush Israeli farms and not so lush Palestinian farms. The reason for this is that, even though this land is part of Palestine (behind the Green Line of demarcation after the ’67 war, the Israelis still control the land and the wealth of the area.
This is evident when we see Palestinian villages looking dilapidated and dry with water storage tanks on their roofs. Then we compare this with the settlements of the Jews in the Palestinian land that are lush and green with no worry about when and where they get their water.
The irony of the situation is that both the Palestinians and the Jews living in the West Bank are in a sort of a prison. The Israeli checkpoints and fences confine the Palestinians there. The Israeli’s are only on the land for ideological reasons. There are no stores or business nearby, so they have to travel to Jerusalem to work or shop. They compounds are heavily fenced and guarded by Israeli soldiers. Sounds like a prison to me.



We stopped at a store in Jericho that sold articles made by Palestinians on their land. The prices were reasonable. Most of us purchased several items as gifts for our loved ones at home.





Bethlehem
To get to Bethlehem we had to skirt Jerusalem using a forbidden road. A forbidden road is one on which only vehicles with Israeli tags may pass even though the roads are built on Palestinian land. Israelis do these things in the name of security. In my opinion it is a planned and well-executed way for the Zionist government to slowly encroach on the Palestinian lands ignoring the UN Mandates. For more information on this see the liberal Israeli website www.btselem.org.
Our guide, Ghassan, an the people he knows are very much praying for peace and a two state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live side-by-side in peace. He told us of a story about taking his kids to play in a park. In the park his kids encountered some Israeli kids and they began to play together having a great time unaware of the conflict that raged around them. Gashan looked over at the mother to make sure she was not bothered with the kids playing. She was crying. Ghassan went over to her and she expressed her happiness that the kids were able to play in peace and her hope for the same thing that Ghassan is praying for,
After passing thorough at least three checkpoints and encountering the separation wall for the first time we arrived at our hotel on Manger Square right next to the Church of the Nativity. After dinner I collapsed and I woke again at 2:45am. My insomnia is letting me finish this blog entry.