Monday, March 5 2012

            It’s early Monday and I’m sitting in the hotel lobby by myself.  There’s still only four guests here – the pastor group I’m with, but I’m told more guests on the way??  Sun is shining this am and I have lots of thanksgiving and gladness to be on this trip.  Thanks to everyone from my family to school to church for helping make this possible.  Speaking of gladness, or better yet joy, mine doesn’t come close to the jubilation of the owner of the restaurant where we had lunch yesterday.  We walked down the street and picked a random restaurant that looked pretty nice.  The owner, Joseph, saw us and came to greet us.  He’s a very large and strong man and I was actually afraid when I saw the hugs he was giving my other group members.  When my turn came, I braced myself and tried to be warm at the same time without getting hurt.  His greeting?  “How are you with God?  And with the Holy Spirit?”  I’m travelling with three other pastors and this greeting caught each of us a little off guard.  I loved it, though, and am going to keep it in my back pocket for later use (beware).  Joseph is a Christian and had been to church that morning twice at different churches.  He explained to us that he gets super pumped up on Sundays because he worships his God and that he cannot contain himself.  We noticed!  Joseph sat with us to eat and then ordered for all of us.  Before we knew it, quite a spread was being laid out before us!  We talked with Joseph for an hour about our shared faith, about life in Bethlehem, and inevitably about the Jewish/Palestinian conflict.  This last topic dampened Joseph’s joy (but not for long) as he shared his perspective.  He pointed to a Jewish tour bus across the street and said, “You see that driver?  He is Jewish and when he takes his breaks in our town.  Nobody bothers him.  He’s free to go where he pleases and do what he wants.  But I cannot do the same in his town.  I am restricted and called “dangerous”.  Even for someone as effusive and strong as Joseph, pain and anger easily find a foothold.  When it came time to leave, we asked for the bill but Joseph would have none of that: “You are my brothers.  This lunch is my gift to you!”  Wow.  And by the way, there were four pastors at the table and they were not about to say “no” to a free lunch.  It’s the “pastors’ way”…

            Had a chance to go to the Old City in Jerusalem yesterday – my first chance to see the city.  Saw the Western Wall at the temple mount and walked around.  The difference between the look of Jerusalem and the look of Bethlehem is striking.  Put simply, Bethlehem looks “second world” while Jerusalem is very “first world” and the Old City area is definitely upscale.  I’ll be back to the Old City on the latter part of my trip so likely more on that later.  We went back to Jerusalem to get my luggage – yeah!!!  I kissed my suitcase when I saw it. 

            My mental picture of Bethlehem has obviously changed.  This is no “little town of Bethlehem”.  Still, with as urban a setting as this is with the craziness of the traffic and people and smells, I saw from my hotel window a shepherd down below with a pretty large flock of sheep.  This was not serene pasture setting.  He literally had his flock on a little patch of grass with buses and mopeds and trucks flying around them.  How he got there I’ll never know.  I’ll never think of “while shepherds watch their flocks at night” the same again!!  Craziness.  I did take a video and tried to upload it but it literally took all night and never work so no videos on this site.

            Peace and blessings to you on this day.  And by the way, “How are you with God?  And with the Holy Spirit?”