Reflections on the Holy Land Pilgrimage

 by Bill Snelson, General Secretary

The Presidents of Churches Together in England (CTE) responded to a long-standing invitation by the leaders of Churches in the Holy Land. To go on pilgrimage together as an act of solidarity with Christians in Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the days before Christmas developed in conversation during one of the regular meetings of the Presidents. This therefore was an ecumenical pilgrimage –recognising the world-wide fellowship and interdependence of the Church; meeting the broad spectrum of Churches in the Holy Land; affirming those Churches’ commitment to the needs of their people; and consolidating the covenental relationship between the Presidents. CTE itself got few mentions in the press, because phrases such as ‘Church Leaders in England/ Britain/ UK’ are more succinct. Often indeed the two Archbishops – Canterbury and Westminster – in spite of their best efforts received more of the lime-light than their two fellow Presidents. Nonetheless this was probably the ‘highest level’ ecumenical delegation to go on pilgrimage to Israel/Palestine.

As it was intended as a pilgrimage of solidarity with the Christians of the Holy Land in order to express support for the beleagured communities at a time of deep political, economic and religious pressures, the aim of the Presidents was to listen rather than to speak, to learn rather than to pronounce.

We heard of an alarming reduction in the number of indigenous Christians in this biblical land. Sixty years ago the Christian population of the Holy Land was 18%, now it is 1.8%; Bethlehem used to be 80% Christian, now it is 40%. In 1999 Bethlehem received 2 million visitors, fewer than 100,000 were expected in 2006. Hotels are empty; tourist shops are closed; souvenir production is at a standstill. Colleges and instititutes which have hosted international students struggle to survive. So many Christians have left the Holy Land that those who remain feel even more despondent. One of those remaining distinguished between optimism and hope: he had few grounds for optimism, he said; but his Christian hope remained, for this was the land of birth of the world’s hope, the Prince of Peace.

We visited the Holy Sepulchre, the Basilica of the Nativity and Shepherds’ Grotto in Bethlehem. These were the historic sites; the ‘stones’ which had the power of place, hallowed by history. Yet it was the ‘living stones’ which carried the message of birth and death and resurrection: the Christians whose faith shone out as brightly as the angelic messangers lightening the sky above Shepherds’ Fields.

These are some of the people and places that moved us:

The Tantur Ecumenical Institute, where we met its first Principal Tom Stransky, now retired, one of the moving forces behind the 2nd Vatican Council. The roof terrace provided the clearest view of the ‘separation barrier’ stretching around Bethlehem, and of the Israeli settlements.

Pastor Mitri Raheb at the International Lutheran Centre, his home having been shot-up during the second Intifada, his congregation forced to break the curfew in order to worship. They swept up the broken glass, learnt glass-making skills, and now manufacture glass angels and other souvenirs as symbols of hope. They have left a broken window in each room as a reminder. Their ‘Bright Stars’ youth work touches 1000 young people, and they aim for 2000.

Bethlehem University, a Roman Catholic institution with 70% Muslim, 30% Christian, of its 2500 students. Many have relatives living abroad and have visited them, but have not visited Jerusalem, potentially a ten-minute bus ride away. Many are determined to live their lives in Palestine, their home-land; some are not prepared to predict how their future prospects will work out. But here hope was undiminished; and here were friendships across racial and religious divides. The sense of hope for the future during their short ecumenical carol service was for a number of us the most tear-jerking moment of the whole pilgrimage: ‘where charity and love meet, there is God’ they sang in Latin, they prayed in Arabic for the coming of God’s Kingdom.

The Mar Ephraim Syrian Orthodox Primary School – linked with Coventry Cathedral – was a beacon of hope for a younger generation, building year by year from its present 5’s & 6’s to an intended age of 11 year old. A fine new building with modern IT, it is a highly sought-after facility in this ‘little town’. The Nativity Play was all that could be expected.

The Nativity Play in the St Vincent Creche was even more emotionally challenging: this was a pre-school playgroup, with many of the children deeply deprived. The children sang the Arabic version of ‘Away in a manger’, and the English among us pooled our memories of the words to sing in reply (‘lustily’, according to the reporter from The Independent). We met babies abandoned, a common occurrence. We met the devoted staff of largely French-speaking Sisters of St Vincent. Then, through some corridors to the state-of-the-art Maternity Hospital, which handles 80% of the births in Bethlehem and boasts a neonatal survival rate as good as any European hospital (compared with a 30% mortality rate in the Gaza strip). It was here, over an incubator, that Dr Robert Tabash, the medical director, gave Rowan Williams the text for his Christmas sermon: ‘the poorest deserve the best’. Here also, that another of the medics pointed from the lounge down the two hundred yards to the road below us, and told of how from there in 2002 a tank had taken shots at the statue of the Virgin on the chapel roof.

We watched at dead of night at the Shepherds’ Fields. The choir which led the singing was from Bethlehem Bible College, and the minister was a Baptist: the Free Churches are a minority of a minority in the Holy Land. The site was within the precincts of the YMCA, whose leader we met, a Palestinian Christian, devoted to the rehabilitation of those mentally and physically bruised by their experience of the troubles.

Throughout the pilgrimage there was no shortage of Church Leaders – Latin, Greek, Armenian, Syrian, Coptic, Melekite, Anglican; hospitality was plentiful, the welcome warm. We met Christians, for this was in solidarity with the Christians of the Holy Land, rather than people of other faiths. Together we had walked into Bethlehem, intending to take the pedestrian route through which the Palestinians are required to go, provided they have the appropriate passes; in fact, our walk was diverted through a car park and we found that we had effectively missed the check-point, had not needed to show our identity papers or explain our intentions.

There was joint prayer at many stages; the rhythm of morning eucharist and prayer and late-night compline,and the shared encounter with so many people of faith, made this a real pilgrimage for the four ‘Pilgrims’, the Presidents of CTE, and for the accompanying support staff.

The message from everyone we met was, ‘Come and see; come, visit as tourists and pilgrims; and remember us in your prayers.’

2007 has a strong theme of ‘set all free’, recalling the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Here, in the Holy Land, the Palestinian Christians yearn to be set free from so many burdens and constraints.