Experiencing unity and division

Church this morning was at the Anglican (Episcopal) Cathedral of St George in East Jerusalem, on the Arab side of the city. Just a couple of blocks away, the wall marks the boundary with the Palestinian West Bank. Walking towards the Old city from the Cathedral, you travel along a busy street, lined with Arab shops and market stalls, and after passing into the Old City through the Damascus Gate, you find yourself on the boundary between the Muslim Quarter on the left and the Christian Quarter on the right, though there is no visible difference between the two.

Mostly at home, when we hear about Israel, we hear about Jewish Israelis on the one hand and Muslim Palestinians on the other. But rarely do we hear about the people caught in between: the 170,000 or so Palestinian or Arab Christians, like Isaac, who owns a shop near the Cathedral. Isaac is Israeli; he also happens to be Arab and Christian. His parents' home was in West Jerusalem, now a Jewish area; after the 1948 war they were forced to move east. When the wall dividing the West Bank from Israel proper was built, Isaac's home ended up on the wrong side. It's only two blocks from his shop, but is behind the wall. He has had to make a choice - live in his home, and forgo his Israeli identity and his livelihood, or keep his shop and live with his wife and children in one room in the Old City. He has chosen the latter, and so his home lies empty and may eventually be bulldozed.

This morning the Eucharist was celebrated in two languages. At times it alternated between English and Arabic. The sermon was preached twice, once in each language. We sang the hymns and said the responses in our own languages, English and Arabic simultaneously. And at for end, we went into the parish hall for cake and Turkish coffee. It was truly a taste of the time to come when, as Isaiah says, "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well aged wines..." (Isaiah 25:6). Pray for our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, and for the peace of Jerusalem.

The Rev. Dr. Raewynne Whiteley