Last day in Jerusalem

We started out the day by looking out over Jerusalem to get a feel for where everything we've been seeing is in relation to each other. I've been constantly surprised by how close everything is, events everywhere from Genesis to Revelation. (And also, later in the day walking Via Dolorosa, seeing all 15 stages of the cross in just a number of blocks.) Looking out over Jerusalem's beauty, there is no wall for us to see but that does not mean that the city is united.

In 1948 Jerusalem's 18 hosipitals all fell on the west side of the border, thus the Lutheran World Federation built a hospital on the East side licensed for 170 beds. The hospital building is absolutely beautiful, and anyone is welcome to come get care. This helps treat both patients' physical ailments and their psyche. The hospital provides secular psycho-social treatment by both Muslims and Christians. But also many patients come from Gaza, and leaving Gaza in itself is emotionally healing, according to the the Holy Land's ELCA representative. Because it's so difficult to get from Gaza to the hospital, going through all of the security check points, many patients have to stay in the area. Thus the ELCA converted a hotel by the Mt of Olives into a Ronald McDonald like house.

Even though the ELCA rep and ICAHD (from yesterday's tour) were from different circles, they each gave us exactly the same perspective about the politics of the area, agreeing on everything down to quantitative facts and figures.

We also had the opportunity to talk to the Bishop, who told us about trying to encourage Palestinians by both remembering their Christian identity as they are living in the Holy Land, and also educating them. When we asked what we could do to help he said to pray for them, and--with emphasis--to not forget them. But when prompted for something tangible we might be able to help with, he said he would e-mail us as things came up.

Then we crossed to the other side of the wall for the first time, to go to Bethlehem. And I can definitely see how, even with full permission, this is quite an inconvenience for the Palestinians.

Bethlehem is no longer what I picture from the days of the Bible. You are much more likely to see rubble and trash than sheep, or even grass. The buildings which had been damaged from enemy fire remained in ruin because they can not bring cement or glass into Bethlehem. But we did get to see the beautiful churchs commemorating the spot of Jesus' birth.

It's been a nice day of tying together all the things we've seen here in Jerusalem and we're ready to take in more of Bethlehem