A little town of Bethlehem

Almost two weeks have passed by since I was walking the streets of Bethlehem. I have needed time to reflect on my visit to the “holy land”. Jerusalem, Palestine, The West Bank, Gaza, and Israel are some loaded words with blurred definitions. I have realized that in the Middle East spirituality, in my opinion is wholly connected to politics. Christians, Muslims, and Jews all call Jerusalem home. They all coexist but sometimes not peacefully. There is a run-down and cheap bus system for Arabs and a new modern bus system for Jews. Stone throwing happens from time to time. Israel soldiers whom are just out of high school carry large automatic weapons. All men over the age of 18 are forced to serve 3 years of service in the IDF. For women it’s only two years. Certain groups are exempt, mostly for religious reasons. Being there I had the feeling Israel felt like an attack was coming upon them. There are soldiers everywhere and it appears that they are not doing a whole lot. Just an observation.

Of my time in Israel I spent two nights in the Old City of Jerusalem. The other five were spent with a local Christian family inside the wall of Palestine. The wall is massive, 30 or 40 feet high stretching for miles. In Bethlehem people spray paint hopeful messages on one side. Palestinian people are locked in. They call it the Occupation. These people are forbidden by the Israel government to leave without permission. Sad. I had no idea it was like this before my visit. It’s almost how I would envision slavery today. An entire people group discriminated because of their background. It would be like saying because I grew up an Episcopalian I am not allowed to leave Ohio. That may be a little extreme but waiting in the border line I could see the pain in people’s faces. To me it’s not clear what distinguish one person living on one side of the wall from someone on the other side. The only noticeable difference is there ID card. On several occasions my friend Jeff and I waited in the border line to only turn away because it took a few hours. There are lots of people who live in Palestine but work in Jerusalem who have to cross the border twice a day almost every day. Stressful. Waiting in this line is an experience that forced me to find some inner patience. I cannot imagine constantly doing it. I do feel like it help bond me to the people there. In line: people cut, mostly blue collar middle aged men yell in Arabic, and people push one another jockeying for position.

There is a valuable film coming to the USA soon. It’s called A Little Town of Bethlehem. If you come across this film go see it. Its showcases the lives of three people all living on different sides of the occupation. It also shows what they are doing to bring peace to these issues that they face. It gave me a quality perspective on what was really going on with the occupation.

I am blessed to have walked the streets where Jesus preached, climbed to the top of the Mount of Olives, prayed over the places He died and was resurrected. All big, big experiences. However, today I am discontent with what I thought would result from such epic encounters. I was hoping that God would reach out to me in these places, but I was wrong. My faith was not shaken at least in the way I was anticipating. I think Jesus is trying to teach me more, beyond my expectations. Right now I am not sure what but I know it’s bigger. When the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity he built Churches over all these historically biblical places. This confuses me. It’s good that these places are preserved today but I am disturbed by this. Jesus was most likely born in a cave, where the livestock would be kept at night but it’s hard to know this because the cave is covered with walls, ceilings and doors.

Overall, the area is beautiful. The landscape has an upper mountain desert feel. Not enough rain with rolling hills. White limestone is everywhere. If you change the white color for an orange color I would compare it to northern Arizona. The scenery looks similar to the area surrounding the Grand Canyon. The people are beautiful too. They are warm and very hospitable. They are anxious to befriend you and share their stories. Most have huge amounts of hope. If I switched places with them I would be broken beyond repair with a lot of anger. They are gracious and joyful. I hope that freedom comes to them soon; maybe it comes in the form of Jesus…