The Nazareth Diaries

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Second Week: 16-19 September 2003

Tuesday 16 September

Had a meeting this morning with the Pastoral Care Committee, who like many committees seem to have difficulty deciding on anything! But a study day on 8 October has been agreed, to encourage Christian staff at the hospital, with 2 sessions:

• relevance of the Bible (led by me).
• Christian approach to ethics (led by Dr Nakhle, medical director).

Previous study days have been greatly welcomed by the staff, and maybe one of my roles at the hospital is proving to be a kind of catalyst to get more of this sort of stuff happening again.

Later in the day was collected by Anis Barhoum who with his wife Nawal runs the House of Light. This organisation works with families with many kinds of social problems, and also they run Kings' Kids and have a prison ministry. The Lord has obviously called them to this, and has helped them develop over the last twenty years. Enjoyed a lovely meal with the family (2 daughters and a son) and a Dutch couple who have been working with them as volunteers for the last couple of years. The meeting began late (well, on time according to Arab time) with 30-35 people, mostly women and their children. The worship was fairly intense and charismatic in style with lots of enthusiastic singing and passionate praying, before I was asked to speak.

Fareed Shehadeh (an educational psychologist) translated for me very effectively as I spoke on Jesus inviting the thirsty to come to him and drink. They seemed to appreciate it greatly, and Anis said in his comments afterwards that "Arab Christians need to be strengthened". Some people went forward for prayer and I was invited to take part. The hospitality continued afterwards with ice-cream and tea before getting a lift home. I was exhausted from the combination of preaching, and concentrating on conversation with so many new people. But had a real sense of worthwhile work being done. Lovely people!

It's really one of the daughters, Rajaa, who runs King's Kids, which helps youngsters from Arab and Messianic Jewish backgrounds to learn, play and worship together. They seem to have about 50 attending weekly, and it's surely a testimony to the ability to really bring together people in Christ who, politically speaking, are enemies. King's Kids seems to serve as a very useful contact point with whole families - the kind of thing we at St John's are attempting with our Jaffa Club.

Wednesday 17 September

Spoke at the chapel service this morning, on same theme as last night at Shefa'arm. A good number more people this time - maybe 15. Staff from sterilisation dept and medical physics were present. Then joined Zahi for a session with the kitchen staff. It's great how they willing to sit round a table with him for a Bible reading, short talk and prayer. Most of the staff of 6/7 are "Latin" Christians, some Orthodox and one Muslim lady. He asked me to speak, so for the 3rd time in about 12 hours I did the talk on Jesus' invitation to come and drink. Where else would this happen but in a hospital like this one?

Thursday 18 September

The day began with a visit to Mike Hostetler, director of the Nazareth Village - an amazingly energetic and creative guy. The Village of course aims to present the person of Jesus through bringing the parables and the life of the 1st Century to life. The collapse of tourism has made them shift their focus from overseas visitors to local schools, and they're working very hard to secure school visits. The context really seems to open people up - it's not church(!), it's interesting, and the way they do it communicates the Spirit of Christ. Mike has ideas on developing active partnership with the Hospital, and is also looking for 100 churches to be part of the "Loaves and Fishes" project. A church would give the cost of this (about £2 per day) in return for a high quality poster and direct internet access to their best expert on 1st Century life as a resource for sermon, Sunday school prep etc. Something that St. John's could take on? The staff at NV haven't been paid for 2½ months! Later, I gave him 50 dollars from the Kettle's On.

The evening was spent at Hattim & Elizabeth Shehadeh's. He's a Palestinian Anglican(!) pastor, working for now in a neighbouring village. Seems to have had difficulties with his bishop, and his future is a little uncertain. Asked about spiritual life in the Anglican Church, his answer was similar I suppose to what you might hear in Scotland: some churches are dying, but where there is committed leadership, the people respond. One difference though - there is more respect for leaders in this culture than in our cynical and disrespectful UK I think, so the difference good leadership makes is easier to discern. Despite the difficulties Palestinian Christians face here, he believes they have a better life than in other parts of the Middle East - more freedom to practice the faith, even if proselytising is illegal.

Friday 19 September

Had a fascinating evening at the Maronite Alpha course. About 25 young and youngish adults from the one congregation (not all attenders). The evening began with a meal of kafta (sort of lamb burgers, one with tahini, the other with tomato) then some singing before a time of sharing from the Holy Spirit weekend. One guy - Nidal - who works at the hospital and had also been at NV last night, spoke of how his back pain had been healed. The talk was on how to avoid evil, and it was interesting to see how willing people were to interrupt the deacon and ask questions. Then coffee break and discussion. The group is obviously very relaxed with each other, and keen to learn. At the end one girl said the Alpha is giving her "fuel" for her life.

This has got to be a significant development, not just because it's the first ever Alpha course in Israel. The Maronite Church is very historic, tracing its roots back to Antioch of Syria in NT times. Marun, the founder, fell out with other theologians in 3rd Century over the two wills/two natures in Christ debate, but it has obviously retained its oriental feel. So it seems like a mix of Orthodoxy and Catholicism (it is now officially linked with the RC Church). Sadly, it was the Maronite Christians in Lebanon who fought on one side of the civil war there, and were directly responsible for the massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps. The people I met could not have been more peacable and welcoming. I hope to join them for worship one Sunday. Wonder how such a traditional church will cope with/adapt to this discovery of new life in an inevitably western way? For the moment the two things seem to co-exist. It was the church deacon who was giving the talk, and the priest had attended part of the recent weekend. Some of the group members have apparently started attending church, and I suppose the tensions will come if and when they start to look for changes in the Sunday services.

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