Living Stones: Sunday in the Holy Land

They say here that the Living Stones of the Holy Land are not the holy sites of antiquity, or the basilicas built in the 1st, 4th or 12th centuries, but the people who have been keeping the faith in their lives and families since the time of Jesus. Today, being Sunday, we visited some of these "Living Stones," at worship in their churches. These are the same people who have been keeping the Christian faith since the time of Jesus.

For Sunday morning church, we visited St. Paul's Anglican Church in Shafa Amr. This small church lies in a mostly Arab city, which serves as a suburb of Haifa. The worship today was bilingual, English and Arabic, because we were there. Bishop Gayle preached, and the Rector translated the sermon. The Province of the Middle East, which includes the Diocese of Jerusalem, does not recognize woman Bishops, so Bishop Gayle did not celebrate the Eucharist. It was amazing to sing several old English hymns in English, while members of the congregation also sung them simultaneously in Arabic. It truly was a beautiful moment of sharing a tradition across many nations and cultures. During coffee hour we celebrated a parish child, Michael's birthday, with a cake, songs and balloons. Really, it was just like coffee hour at church back home!!

Several of the members of the parish told us about how many of the Christians have fled from the Holy Land over the last 20 years due to the struggles between Israelis and Palestinians. Historically, Christians have played a moderating role in this multi-ethnic and religious land, but the number of Christians has greatly diminished in the last two decades. They worry about being forgotten by Western Christians. They urged us to tell their story, and thanked us for our visits. They asked us to return, to bring others. It reminded me of St. Paul's work of traveling around the Mediterranean taking a collection for the church in Jerusalem in the Book of Acts - the importance of knowing and supporting these early followers of Christ.

The Parish of St. Paul had recently refurbished a house next to the church as a local "multi-cultural community center." The land for the house was purchased with a grant from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, and refurbished from donations by the local church. We brought a donation from the Diocese of Massachusetts to help further the work of this center. The center now serves as a center where Christians, Muslims and Jews in the town to gather together for shared arts expeditions and musical performances. It shows the important work of the local Christian communities to build bridges to bring people together, which is the first step in working for peace. I have a lot of admiration and gratitude for the life, witness and work of these "Living Stones" of the Holy Land, and pray for their continued ministry of building the bridges to peace.