Notes from Bethlehem

Greetings from Bethlehem.

It's been an interesting week. I had quite an experience in the airports along the way. My flights were enjoyable (at least as enjoyable of an experience as one can have wedged into a small seat for 11 hours). I love the fact that they feed you on the airplane for International flights, but it sure would be nice if they could figure out how to feed you meals that are more than "nourishing". Because of the crazy schedule I was on, I got to spend 10 hours in the Amsterdam Airport and then I got to spend 12 hours in the Tel Aviv airport waiting to meet up with my tour group.

Schipol airport (Amsterdam) is a fun airport, but I would say that 4-5 hours there would have been plenty. I guess it might have been more enjoyable had I slept the night before, but I couldn't sleep and decided to watch a whole list of movies on the "personal entertainment system" on the plane (License to Wed, Chicken Run, Over the Hedge, Super Bad -which lived up to its name- and The Prince of Egypt). Thinking about it now, I would definitely have rather gone and done something in the city ... my only concern when I was there was "I can get anywhere from the airport ... how do I get back to the airport?" I figured that depending on where I went there may not be a ready supply of taxis to take me back to the airport ... although at least in Amsterdam I could have made pretty good sense out of a bus map. When I got to Tel Aviv I spent time reading a book. When I met up with the tour guide in Tel Aviv (12 hours after I had gotten there) he seemed surprised that I didn't venture out somewhere and suggested that the tour planners should have given me his contact information and he would have sent me to see some good sites. Oh, well ... maybe next time.

We've been staying in Bethlehem at the Guest House of Christmas Lutheran Church. It is a wonderful place to stay. The staff are all very wonderful and hospitable. The rooms are nice, very clean and even with many modern amenities (like internet access nearby and television ... Yeah for watching BBC World - how come we don't get that channel in the U.S.?) We are fed very well. The breakfast spread includes a variety of breads, cheeses, and vegetables. Dinners generally include chicken (always cooked very moist) and are always more than generous in their portion. I've even had the chance to enjoy a few local beers ... pretty good, too.

Part of our time has been spent getting to meet with local ministry leaders. We met with Dr. Mitri Raheb who is pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church and also the director of a wide-reaching ministry here in Bethlehem that includes a School, Health and Wellness Center, and the guest house. It is wonderful to hear of his plans for the future ministries in this area ... he has such a great vision (given by God) for how to live out Christ's command to love one another. We met with Zoughbi Zoughbi who leads a ministry that raises up leaders in the community ... I appreciated his emphasis on hope that is tied to the Empty Tomb! We also spent some time in a Palestinian Refugee camp, while it was sad to see how the people lived with such substandard housing, it was amazing to see the hope in their lives (especially the children) as they report things getting "better" for them in the last few years. Still, there's a long way to go!

Part of our time has been spent in sightseeing (as Zoughbi put it, "seeing the Holy Stones"). It is absolutely amazing to see some of the places that we read about in the Bible and help put into perspective some of the places where people went. No, there are no places where we can say "Jesus slept here" or "this is THE Upper Room" but we can get a feeling for the geography and the distances. There is also room for imagination. What would it have been like to live here 2000 years ago?

We're not even halfway through our tour and there is so much I could say and yet so much still to see. I hear often of people who come to the Holy Land and "run where Jesus walked" and I can't imagine what that experience would be like. Our trip is even going to be too short, but we have had a chance to meet people and get to know their stories. We've had a chance to see some of the sadness that people live with every day. But most of all I will take with me the HOPE that these people all have. Dr. Mitri Raheb, when talking to our group, defined for us the difference between hope and optimism. He said, "I am not optimistic, for that would mean believing that tomorrow things will be better. But I am full for HOPE for that means that my actions today will make a difference in the future." For me his hope resonates with Zoughbi Zoughbi's words when asked, "how can you have hope when you see all that is going on around you?" And he replied quite simply, "There are 14 stations of the cross, and the final station is the Resurrection! The tomb is empty. How can I not have Hope?"