Bethlehem

Today was a later day than most. After breakfast and before the church service, several of us went for a walk through Bethlehem. It felt very different from other places we've been. As a woman, I felt less comfortable than I have been since we've been here...some winks, some comments, some looks...However, despite that, I loved walking around the city. We are near the market area and walking through there with so much going on was wonderful. So much going on, so much real life which we haven't gotten to see much of while we've been here. Like in Latin America, the stores are very specialized- some sell only certain kinds of clothes, some sell spices (those smelled sooooo good as we passed by), some seemed to sell only shoelaces, though I think the guys inside were tailors... We wandered somewhat aimlessly for about an hour. It was nice to get out.


The church service was at Christmas Lutheran Church, where Mitri Raheb (who we met last night- my rock star) is pastor. This morning, besides us, there were also guests from Minneapolis and from Germany. Raheb, a German bishop and a German pastor gave the sermon as a sort of dialogue, comparing the current situation in Palestine, with the walls and checkpoints, with the division of Germany during WWII. It was so interesting to listen to them.


After the service, we had lunch and visited the Church of the Nativity. Getting to see the traditional sites of Jesus' birth and the manger was a little frustrating only because we didn't have much time to be there. What was most interesting about the visit was that today is Christmas Eve for the Armenian church. What this meant is that we saw the procession for the beginning of the celebration service. The patriarch came in with great ceremony while there was some incredible singing going on. It was pretty cool to watch.

After that we went to the Deheisheh refugee camp. The camp was begun in 1948, when Palestinians were forced from their land when Israel was created. The man who took us around was born in the camp, as I'm sure many of the current residents were. It has been around a long time. Tha camp challenged all stereotypes about what a refugee camp looks like. It is in the middle of Bethlehem and, had I not known it was a refugee camp, I'd have thought it was a regular part of the city. I don't have time to write everything we learned there, but our journey there led to a lively discussion within our gorup afterwards. I am still processing it all and will try to write about it later...

Others are waiting to use the computer, so I will stop there. More to come...

Peace,
Cory