Our worship experiences here have been varied.
... already described our first Sunday with all Arabic-speaking Lutherans in Beit Sehour
... and we were at the Church of the Annunciation our second Sunday
.... and we joined with Sabeel for a Thursday noon service
... and we were in the Negev with Bedouins our third Sunday
... and we shared the bread of life and cup of forgiveness on Aush Ghrab (sorry, that blog-post isn't written yet)
So for our 4th Sunday we went to St George's Anglican - Episcopal Cathedral in Jerusalem.
We were interested in both the scheduled 9:30 AM Arabic-speaking service and the 11 AM English-speaking service. So we set off with the attitude that the amount of time we spent on checkpoints would determine which service we arrive in time for.
By now we are getting somewhat used to the routine at the check points. Everyone gets off the bus. We show our passports and are usually done easily (though one time we were challenged by a soldier who looked about 14 with a way-oversized gun: "Why do you want to go to this place?" My answer is always "Tourists.")
Anyway it's easy for us. But the Palestinians have to produce a permit. If they say "Mustashfa" it means they have to go to a hospital. Ironically, that means they have to go aside, in the hot sun, and stand around waiting while the soldiers take their stuff inside for a computer check. We've seen several weary, queazy looking older people not allowed back on the bus. (And at "rolling checkpoints" when soldiers simply stop a bus that's driving down the road anywhere it happens to be, we've seen old women and mothers with crying babies told to get off the bus and the bus had to just leave them on the side of the road, miles from their destination.)
How long the wait at the checkpoint is can be related to the intensity of the soldier at the time and the luc of who your fellow passengers happen to be. At some of the checkpoints everyone gets off, the bus goes aside and then reloads with who ever gets approved first -- so you may arrive at the checkpoint with one group of passengers and leave with all different people.
At any rate, we arrived in Jerusalem Sunday apparently too late for the Arabic service and too early for the English. So with spare time I asked the deskperson at St George's if we could have a look around. He told us "Today's a special combined service - it just started!"
So in we walked (Not to the front row!) for a combined Arabic & English service -- with Bishop Suheil Dawani presiding (and retelling the sermon in Arabic) and Bishop Te Kitohi Pikaahu from New Zealand preaching, and a seminary classmate, Bob Edmunds as a Canon, and Naim Ateek in the seats across the aisle from us.
So prayer and worship were joyfully shared in at least three languages, as the guest preacher offered his prayers in Maori. And it was a joyful celebration, as both Bishops reported that in their experience Lambeth was a a very positive gathering with faithfulness at its heart, and in their view the Anglican communion lives. Praise God!
