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Jerusalem – 3 great religions, 1 ‘great’ wall.

The holy city of Jerusalem is at the heartbeat of the worlds three great monotheistic religions with all of its legends open to all of its believers: church bells, religious ceremonies and a pathway of suffering for the salvation of mankind. To the Jews this is the land of the Bible and their past glories; to the Christians this is the land where Jesus lived and suffered, the land which heard His mighty words and witnessed His miracles; to the Muslims this is the land from which the prophet ascended to heaven.

This land of faiths and love also has been a land of war, blood and misery. Since very ancient times until today, war followed war, riot followed riot, saturating its holy ground with human blood. In recent times the term ‘suicide bomber’ has cleared the streets of Jerusalem of foreign tourists, yet the area depends economically very heavily on these overseas pilgrims.

Present day Jerusalem and surrounding localities with ‘holy’ sites is seeing large scale construction. In preparation for the year 2000 (when it was expected that huge numbers of visitors would arrive), many high rise hotel blocks were built. Sadly, due to the ‘intifada’ no-one came, indeed no-one has come for the past five years. There has been construction of another sort too – that of the great concrete wall of segregation. "Israel’s separation barrier seriously impedes Palestinian access to essentials of civilian life such as work, education and medical care. Israel has a right to and duty to protect its civilians from attack but it must not use means that entail indiscriminate punishment of entire communities" (Human Rights Watch, 2004).

"Coming within sight of the city, Jesus wept over it and said: If you only had known the path to peace this day; but you have completely lost it from view" (Luke Ch.19 v.41).

Revd. Phillip Gwynn and his wife Sian have recently spent some time in Jerusalem, as guests of the Salameh family, who live inside the ancient walled Old City of Jerusalem. This is the family of Seham (Sunday School teacher at All Souls Church, Tycoch), her sister Elham who is Director of the Social and Cultural Dept., at East Jerusalem YMCA helped Phillip organize the trip. Through Elham Phillip and Sian met several local people who told them of a lifestyle of intimidation, of physical barriers, and armed police.

The strange thing is that this actually makes you feel safer. The purpose of Phillip and Sian’s trip was a fact finding journey, to set up a Pilgrimage which the couple will lead in 2007. Why 2007 ? – because that is the 50^th Anniversary of the Dedication of All Souls Church, Tycoch (and it’s something that they wanted to do for some time!).

It is hard to walk along the Via Dolorosa (The Way of the Cross) and not find in your heart a connection if you are a person of faith. To look at the ruins of the house of Mary, Joseph (and Jesus) in Nazareth, to stand at the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee to put your face near the water and actually smell the fish, to look down on Capernaum from the Mt. of the Beatitudes and imagine Jesus walking about and exercising his ministry in front of your very eyes. This was not JUST a holiday, it was an experience of real religion.

You can’t help wondering what Jesus would have had to say about this modern day Berlin wall. Just remember how easy it was when the agreement was finally made – how physically easy it was to pull the Berlin wall down. I am sure he would say, don’t look at the barrier – see the opportunity in the gaps.

The opportunity for us to deepen our faith, while helping to stimulate the economy, and enabling those who work in the tourist trade out there to put food on the table for their families. Before Phillip and Sian went, they were constantly being asked if it was safe. Phillip’s reply was always the same – "If we come back full of bullet holes, then don’t go". Needless to say the couple are back safe, with a wealth of experiences that have enhanced their faith.

Contact Phillip and Sian if you would be interested in finding out more about their trip – maybe you would like to join their trip in 2007, maybe they could give your group a slide presentation.