Meeting a Rock Star..at least in my mind...

So, I enjoyed today for two reasons: We got to float in the Dead Sea and we got to talk to Mitri Raheb (my version of a rock star). We also went to Masada and Qumran, but I'm going to focus on the two things that were highlights for me.

Dead Sea: Walking into the Dead Sea and then lying down in the Dead Sea was quite an experience. When I lay down, I floated as if I were on a swimming pool raft. We were in water that was just a few feet deep, but we were so buoyant that our bodies didn't touch the sea floor unless we put our hands under the water to feel it. We saw some people covering their bodies with Dead Sea mud. We didn't have time to do so... I think what was nice about the experience besides the novelty of it was that it was not intellectual- it was a brain break, an emotional break, just some good fun. After our dip in the sea, we changed into our clothes for heading into Bethlehem, so I was changing into different clothes from the ones I'd arrived in and almost left my shorts, so I had to run back down to the beach. I did find my shorts- yea!

A short serious note about the Dead Sea- it is drying up- we could see how much higher it used to be and some are projecting that it will be completely dried up in 35 years... I'm sure it doesn't help that that there are channels (man-made, if I remember correctly) coming out of it, from which water is desalinated and used...

Now, the rock star! In preparation for the trip we read the book Bethlehem Besieged, by Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem. It was by far my favorite book from the many that we read. This evening we met and had a conversation with him. Because I loved the book so much, I was very excited to get a chance to meet him face to face (I told him I felt like I was meeting a rock star, too). Our conversation with him was wonderful. I wrote down as much of what he said as I could. The reason I am so enthralled with him is because his congregation is doing so much outreach here in Bethlehem. They have a school, a college, a program to care for the elderly, a Health and Wellness Center. They work to empower people. In a place with very little hope, Mitri Raheb gives me hope. I am looking forward to visiting the various ministries he and his congregation have started...

There were a few things he said (that were not so hopeful) that really stuck out for me. I'll comment on two of them. First of all, this man who lives in the midst of so many horrible things, said that in the past, he used to try to talk to members of the U.S. Congress so that they would understand the Palestinian reality of the Israeli policies our government supports. He said he stopped going to talk to Congress members, because it is hopeless talking to them. It saddened me to hear him say that. He said he hopes we will ask our government to support American values (he specifically mentioned equality, freedom, cooperation, and right ot land ownership) in the world and especially in the whole Holy Land (Israel and Palestine). The other thing he said that stuck out was his opinion of Hamas. He doesn't see Hamas as a terrorist group and said that he feels they can be compared to some groups that Israel would call freedom fighters (unfortunately I don't remember the specifics of who he meant). This was interesting to me and reminded me of being in Colombia. Here is the similarity I see: if we call Hamas terrorists, that changes the way we are involved in the conflict here. In Colombia, after 9/11, the U.S. started referring to the leftist group the FARC as a terrorist group, which had not done pre-9/11. That changed the way the U.S. was involved in Colombia and allowed our government to be more active there militarily. Hmmm...I still want to learn more about what people say here about Hamas, but that similarity in two places where the U.S. is very involved and supportive of the governments is striking to me...

Anyway, I will stop there. Tomorow we will be going to Raheb's parish for the Sunday service and visiting the Church of the Nativity.

Until the next time...

Peace,
Cory