Message from the Rector

A new year’s resolution and invitation:
“I shall take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land!”

The Holy Land – what images does it engender?

Jerusalem, Ah Jerusalem! that fabled city with golden stone walls, chimes of bells, calls from minarets: "Allah-ou-akhbar"; Jews bobbing at the Wall; Hamas and El Fatah hard at the killing; Israeli tanks charging; violence and calm; the Evil and the Sacred; and all that is most holy for Arab, Jew and Christian alike.

Consider this year joining the Rector, Paul Almond, and a dozen other seekers as we fly over on Saturday November 8th, 2008, and return two weeks later. Spend roughly $3,500 (about $250 a day) for all meals, guides, hotels, and flights.

Three-pronged thrust to our pilgrimage:

• Walk in the actual footsteps of Our Lord.
• Meet Christian Arabs and Israelis, hear their stories, join them in prayers.
• Find out how we may be able to support Peace and Justice in the Middle East.

We shall go under the aegis of SABEEL, an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians. Inspired by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, SABEEL strives to develop a spirituality based on justice, peace, non-violence, liberation, and especially, reconciliation for the different national and faith communities that inhabit the Holy Land, and indeed the world. (www sabeel.org)

The last SABEEL fall witness visit offered a window into the daily lives of Palestinians living under the Occupation. It met with Palestinian and Muslim leaders of civic and religious organisations, as well as Jewish advocates for justice.

Our visit will do that, but also, with special guides, will walk in the footsteps of our Lord. We shall come to know Him better by feeling as He felt -- how hot, how cold, what crowds He saw, what rain cooled Him, what clothes He wore -- and spend days with his presence everywhere. Whatever exists there from his everyday life (yes, still a lot) can teach us so much about the images He used in His teaching: the bread of life, the shepherd and his sheep, the water of baptism among a desert of stones, and more, much more... Seeing with his eyes, we shall grow more into his teachings, and then share with others these newly found ways of seeing Him. Such as:

• The Kidron Steps. These huge old stone steps down which Our Lord walked on the night he went over into the Garden of Gethsemane.
• Bethany. In this small haphazard village, we shall reflect on the story of Mary and Martha. We shall enter the tomb of Lazarus, and then stroll back towards Jerusalem, as He did.
• On the way on the Mount of Olives, we shall stop in at the Pater Noster Church with Our Lord's Prayer written in hundreds of languages. We shall visit the cave where He hid and, in the semi-dark, imagine just the Twelve listening as He spoke those very words. A long way from Westminster Cathedral. Oh yes. A long way from St. Aidan’s.
• Back in East Jerusalem, we shall sit by the Garden Tomb, beside the prototypical round stone rolled back by the angel.
• We shall wander the ruins of the Pool of Bethesda, and then enter the Church of St. Anne -- the finest Crusader architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean -- and walk along the mighty walls of the Holy City.
• We shall search the vast interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the very spot of the crucifixion. But even more interesting, we shall climb onto its roof, where the very first Christians, the Egyptian Copts, live in primitive cells.
• We shall part the tall reeds to find (such a shock!) the muddy and polluted little stream that was the mighty Jordan of the Bible. As we sit upon its bank, we shall imagine John, like a latter day hippie in his camel-hair coat and leather belt, while the simple folk, dressed then as we shall see today, crowd around him.

Each day a new shock, either Sacred or Profane. Each day a new awakening into our Faith. Each day a new joy in sharing with other like-minded Christians as we grow in the depth of our spiritual understanding, and as we discover the political realities of the Middle East. Yes, a trip never to forget. But only, if we make the effort!

• Sign up on the sheet in Parish Hall to indicate not a promise, but an inclination.
• Take the package of info in Parish Hall or the Church office.
• Come to our meeting mid-February for more concrete details, to help you move closer to some firm intention: a yes, or a no.

May God’s peace enfold all of us this 2008th year of our Lord!

Your companions on the journey,
Paul Almond, O.C.
The Rev. Joyce Stickney

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January 2008