I want to reflect in Easter week on three visits to the Holy Land. The first in 1972 was not a pilgrimage although it turned into one for Holy Week! Our driver was Arab and he took us around Galilee in a big black Mercedes. I remember thinking everywhere here needs to be dug down 20 feet and we might find something! However the shores of the Sea of Galilee were very special in spring time. That felt authentic. We visited the main sites and also went to the heights of Kuneitra looking towards Syria. This was shocking to see whole towns bombed out. Sadly peace has not come to this region. We also visited a kibbutz. I recall feeling that the huge church in Nazareth would have made Mary very uncomfortable and being underwhelmed by Bethlehem. The church of the Holy Sepulchre was frankly shocking with its many divisions. The later visits made me realise what a wonderful place this is. We also visited the Dome of the Rock the most disputed religious site on earth. I was interested to see that I have in fact visited Bethany and the tomb of Lazarus three times and Hebron twice. In 1972 I note the Hebron mosque and synagogue within it After the terrible attack it was closed for 4 years and the Muslims returned to find the synagogue had expanded. What should be a site where the Abrahamac faiths can visit the tombs of the patriarchs has become a bitter dispute.
Holy Week was made very special by Bishop George Appleton and centred around St George's cathedral. The walk on Maundy Thursday to Gethsamene at night from the Cenacle area was unforgettable with dogs barking and following a single torch. Palm Sunday we looked down in our small Anglican procession on the huge Catholic procession below (it would not be so large now sadly). The people I met were special too. The kind man on the bus who invited me to stay in his flat and took me to the synagogue - the cantor was wonderful and must have been around 80. He would have invited me to the passover meal but it was not in his home. Many years later we did go to a Passover meal in North London. Easter day I walked through Mea Shearim to reach the Garden tomb for the early service and later Messiah. After lunch we went to the post office to send a telegram home Jesus is risen! My friends from Washington cathedral suggested it (again many years later I played the organ there). I also ended up playing the organ for a church for Jewish converts - all in Hebrew. Suspicious of this!
Our second visit was the Belmont abbey pilgrimage and I have recorded this in a blog. The third time was Chrstians and Muslims at St George's college and what a revelation that was - again my blog records this. By this time I was sketching and painting and my response is echoed in BBCTV series "Painting the Holy Land".
So what have I learnt from this? Being tolerant is not enough. We need to understand each other's position better. My view changed a great deal. My faith was deepened in some places. The garden tomb in particular was helpful although it is not the right place. I am not anti Jewish but I am very unhappy about Zionism. The Palestinians have been treated with contempt by people who themselves were subject to the Holocaust. This is hard to understand.
Holy Week was made very special by Bishop George Appleton and centred around St George's cathedral. The walk on Maundy Thursday to Gethsamene at night from the Cenacle area was unforgettable with dogs barking and following a single torch. Palm Sunday we looked down in our small Anglican procession on the huge Catholic procession below (it would not be so large now sadly). The people I met were special too. The kind man on the bus who invited me to stay in his flat and took me to the synagogue - the cantor was wonderful and must have been around 80. He would have invited me to the passover meal but it was not in his home. Many years later we did go to a Passover meal in North London. Easter day I walked through Mea Shearim to reach the Garden tomb for the early service and later Messiah. After lunch we went to the post office to send a telegram home Jesus is risen! My friends from Washington cathedral suggested it (again many years later I played the organ there). I also ended up playing the organ for a church for Jewish converts - all in Hebrew. Suspicious of this!
Our second visit was the Belmont abbey pilgrimage and I have recorded this in a blog. The third time was Chrstians and Muslims at St George's college and what a revelation that was - again my blog records this. By this time I was sketching and painting and my response is echoed in BBCTV series "Painting the Holy Land".
So what have I learnt from this? Being tolerant is not enough. We need to understand each other's position better. My view changed a great deal. My faith was deepened in some places. The garden tomb in particular was helpful although it is not the right place. I am not anti Jewish but I am very unhappy about Zionism. The Palestinians have been treated with contempt by people who themselves were subject to the Holocaust. This is hard to understand.
