Sunday in Bethlehem

After a restful night at the Bethlehem Inn, Esther and I went to the dining room for breakfast.  We were the only guests at the Inn and the manager graciously prepared all the dishes that make for a delicious breakfast.  He brought out little dishes of olives, hummus, jelly, jam, fresh cut up tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers.  Then he brought us fresh eggs and bread.  We enjoyed all the wonderful taste delights.

We packed up our belongings and found a taxi to deliver us to Christmas Lutheran Church for the service at 10:30 a.m.   Since we had arrived early, we were able to sit 3 pews from the front in the sanctuary.  We were given a bulletin printed in English even though the service is in Arabic.  There was some historical information about the church and we were able to follow the order of worship.

The Christian Church in Palestine is comprised of three main groups:   Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical (Lutherans are in this group).  Christmas Lutheran Church, the oldest Lutheran Church in Palestine, was started in 1854 by German missionaries.  Today, it is one of the 6 Lutheran Churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan  (and Palestine).    The present structure was built between 1886-1893.  The tower reflects the typical Bethlehemite woman’s hat of the 19^th century.  The 14 original stained glass windows tell the Christmas story, the life of Christ, the flight to Egypt, the crucifixion, and other biblical history.  The writing on the windows is in German and the copula “glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will to men” was painted 20 years ago with Arabic calligraphy.  The pipe organ was originally manufactured in Berlin in 1890 and rebuilt in 2000 with funding from the Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer in Minneapolis, MN USA.

The order of the service was familiar to me.  There are some Arabic words that are quite similar to English such as Amen is Ahmeen.  Psalm 107 was read together and I said the words that were printed in English.  The hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour” has been one I’ve sung since I was a child and there again it was easy to sing the familiar words in English along with the congregation singing in Arabic.  The Gospel Lesson was Matthew 8: 5-13 which was about the faith of the centurion who pleaded with Jesus to heal his servant, sight unseen.  A version of “Rock of Ages” was sung after the sermon.  After that 3 men and 2 women came up to the front and were installed as members of the Council.  It was wonderful to attend the service.

After walking around Bethlehem a while longer we decided to head for Jerusalem.  We found a taxi to take us to the huge checkpoint to get out of Bethlehem.  It includes long walkways, turnstiles, screening devices and long waits.  A Palestinian women, with a baby about 3 months old, handed me her baby as she took off her boots, coat, earrings, necklace.  All the packages she was carrying were also screened, fingerprints verified and identification shown.  I enjoyed holding her tiny baby and she expressed her thanks and appreciation with her smiles and gestures as she did not speak English.   My moment of inconvenience is nothing compared to what the Palestinian people face every day.  I wonder so many times why all this is necessary and what purpose it really serves other than to cause humiliation and frustration.

Susanne