Calum MacSween reports on a pilgrimage with a difference to the Holy Land.

Photo: iStock / Sea of Galilee

A GROUP of 28 Church of Scotland clergy, elders and members led by the Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan spent 10 days visiting Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories at the beginning of May 2017. Organised by the World Mission Council, the group visited many of the holy sites and met with several organisations supported by the Church of Scotland.

From the USA and from the Scottish Highlands, the Borders and all points in between we rendezvoused at Edinburgh Airport. Largely unknown to each other prior to our pre-trip meeting, we were to bond into a group who journeyed together, ate together, read together, prayed together, sang together, learned together and – frequently – laughed together.

Over the 10 day period we would, at times, experience sensory and emotional overload and need some space to ourselves. On other occasions, our perceptions and preconceptions would be challenged, our minds stretched, our horizons expanded. As a group, we shared a common faith, we shared a desire to see for ourselves places we had heard about and read about all our lives. Most of all, we shared a yearning that those working for peace and reconciliation on all sides might achieve their objective.

And, so, we travelled as a worshipping community of 29, incorporating the words of the prophet Micah, capturing perfectly the dual aspect of our pilgrimage. Our Biblical journey took us from Nazareth, the shores of Galilee, down the Jordan taking in Jericho before heading to Jerusalem and, finally, Bethlehem. We were not alone. Coachloads of tourists and pilgrims thronged each site, some spending time at each destination, others moving on rapidly, a feature encapsulated in one tourist tshirt,

I ran where Jesus walked. In our case, we were able to find peaceful spaces at all the key sites: we worshipped under the shade of a large tree in Capernaum; on a boat drifting, engines cut, on the Sea of Galilee; on Galilee shores; in a quiet corner of the Garden Tomb; in the cloisters of St Catherine’s Church next to the Church of the Nativity. These were all meaningful moments.

So, too, was the shared worship at Christ Church, Nazareth on our first full day in the Holy Land where well-loved hymns were sung and prayers offered simultaneously in Arabic and English and we began our conversations with ‘the people who walk with you now’ in that troubled part of the world.

Later in the week, Rabbi Nava Hefetz picked up the limitations of visiting her country purely as a tourist by quoting from poet Yehuda Amichai:

Once I sat on the steps by a gate at David’s Tower,

I placed my two heavy baskets at my side.

A group of tourists

was standing around their guide and I

became their target marker. “You see

that man with the baskets? Just right of

his head there’s an arch

from the Roman period. Just right of

his head.”

“But he’s moving, he’s moving!”

I said to myself: redemption will come only

if their guide tells them,

“You see that arch from the Roman period?

It’s not important: but next to it,

left and down a bit, there sits a man who’s

bought fruit and vegetables for his family.”

Rabbi Hafetz had more counsel for us as visitors to the country. ‘If you want to criticise, you must look at both sides. This is a sexy conflict. Why are Europeans so quiet about Syria? So many dead. Countless refugees.’ But as she guided us around East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel since 1967, she had her own critique. ‘What is going on in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is against Rabbinic teaching. We’ve built more than a wall – we’ve split families and communities, we’ve divided people …….. But it is not sustainable. There will need to be compromise on both sides. There is no other choice.’

The hope implicit in that statement was echoed by Zoughbi Zoughbi, Director, Wi’am Palestinian Conflict Resolution Centre, ‘We do not hate Israelis. We are all the dysfunctional family of Abraham. But we hate the system we live under. It is evil. Both sides are weary of it…… We believe in resurrection theologically and practically. So we live in hope and faith, hope and faith being two sides of the same coin.’

Hope, too, at Kefr-Kenna (village of Cana), one of two possible sites for the Biblical Cana of Galilee. The village has its share of First Miracle cafes, wine outlets and souvenir shops but it is the scene of a modern transformational change that was our destination. Established in 1996, Sindyanna of Galilee is a female led social enterprise that employs Arab and Jewish women who share a common vision of peaceful co-existence. They bring premium products – organic and extra virgin olive oils, za’atar spices, honey, olive oil soaps and traditional crafts – to an international marketplace, working strictly to Fair Trade principles. Profits are channelled into Arab women education. At a briefing two women, one Jewish, one Arab spoke eloquently and passionately about their work and their gratitude to the Church of Scotland for their support. Standing side by side, they modelled just exactly how things could be.

Much further north, close to the Lebanon border, we met three generations of the same family in what remains of the village of Bir’im. They are Maronite Christians and we met them in their restored church, used weekly by 50 – 100 worshippers determined to keep a presence in the village.

The village is not found on Israeli maps but its story is well known. Israeli forces entered Bir’im (pop 700) in November 1948 and ordered the largely Christian population out. The army said the evacuation was temporary and for security reasons. They would be allowed to return to their homes within two weeks. They are still waiting.

In 1952 Israel’s High Court of Justice confirmed the villagers’ right to return as soon as the situation permitted. The Defence Ministry responded by declaring Bir’im to be ‘a security zone’ and in 1953 the village buildings were demolished. ‘They believe that if they destroy the stones, they destroy the people,’ said John as his father nodded. ‘But this is our home. This is where we should be and this is where we will be.’ Our visit ended with John’s daughter singing The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, the language of Jesus now being taught again in a local school. We felt humbled by their faith and their live connection to the days of Jesus.

A few days later we found ourselves south of Bethlehem on a farm 950 metres above sea level. The Nasser family have held title deeds to the land since the time of the Ottoman occupation but in 1991 the Israeli Government declared the farm to be ‘state land’. The legal battle has been running ever since.

There are other pressures. On the day of our visit, the road to the farm had been blocked, necessitating a half hour detour to approach the farm via another route. There is no running water, no electricity connection to the farm. No building is allowed on the land. More seriously, the farm’s fruit crop was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers two weeks before harvest in 2014. The issue of compensation remains unresolved.

Yet, this farm is a beacon of hope. ‘We refuse to be enemies’ is painted on a rock at the entrance. It is a statement of practice. Dahoud Nasser elaborated: ‘We refuse to be victims. We refuse to hate. We believe in justice. We live our Christian faith.’

And so we journeyed for ten days, at times witnessing situations that fell well below any concept of universal human rights but encouraged by the many people we met for whom inspirational seems barely adequate a description. We ourselves were sustained and re-energised by our daily acts of participative worship and evening reflections led thoughtfully and constructively by the Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan.

Now back home, we must decide what to do with all we have seen, heard and learned. Our starting point may well be captured in words used at St Andrew’s Church of Scotland, Jerusalem Pray not for Arab or Jew, for Palestinian or Israeli. but pray rather for yourselves, that you might not divide them in your prayers but keep them both together in your hearts. Amen to that.

“Jesus our brother as we dare to follow in the steps you trod be our companion on the way. May our eyes see not only the stones that saw you but the people who walk with you now; may our feet tread not only the path of your pain but the streets of a living city; may our prayers embrace not only the memory of your presence but the flesh and blood who jostle us today. Bless us, with them, and make us long to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.