Today we took a trip into Jerusalem to worship at St. George's Cathedral, the seat of the Arab Anglican Bishop of the region, Bishop Suheil. A bishop from England, Bishop John Parker gave the sermon and we participated in holy communion. The organ there was quite something to here, and it was good to be among other pilgrims from around the world worshiping together.
We had lunch in the old city, at a rooftop cafe overlooking the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock. We then went to the Wailing Wall one last time, before making our way back to the bus. Boy was the bus crowded, with standing room only. You can't beat six shekels for a trip back to Bethlehem, having been taken advantage of by the taxi driver on the way in, but it was quite crowded for the locals who take this route everyday to their jobs in East Jerusalem.
Tonight we had an evaluation of the trip and a musical concert and celebration of our time together with the other internationals. The Al Arabia reporter that followed our groups showed the clips that she send in to Dubai about the olive harvest. A couple of them included interviews with us, including one clip about this blog, but the audio tracks weren't playing correctly so we couldn't hear part of it. Hearing Arabic for part of the clip, then nothing at all, made it all pretty funny to watch. We hope to get an English version of the clips sometime soon, but if you have satellite, look for us on Al Arabia. Some people left early in the morning, but our flight doesn't leave until Monday afternoon. See you all soon.
1 comment:
Saying prayers for your travels home! I look forward to hearing your reflections live but this blog was GREAT! Thank you each for taking the time to share with us. There are a few students studying here at the Near East School of Theology that are from Palestine and Anglican. They were thrilled I had been to St. George's. Here's to your transition back to the states...
Salaam,
Carol
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